No respite from pollution woes: Delhi's AQI stays in 'severe' category for third day

The city woke up to another day of thick smog on Thursday as the air quality remained in the 'severe' category for the third consecutive day.

The morning air quality bulletin issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed an AQI reading of 404. Out of 37 monitoring stations, 27 reported AQI levels in the 'severe' range. These included Burari (433), Chandni Chowk (455), Anand Vihar (431), Mundka (438), Pusa (302), Bawana (460), and Wazirpur (452).

The 'severe' category indicates a level of pollution that can affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases.

The city reported its first 'severe' air quality day of the season on Tuesday, when the AQI was recorded at 428, the first such instance since December 2024.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor' and 401 to 500 'severe', as per the CPCB classification.

The minimum temperature settled at 10.6 degrees Celsius, 2.9 notches below the season's average with the maximum temperature likely to hover around 27 degrees Celsius.