Delhi’s AQI plunges to ‘hazardous’ category, people complain of itchy throat and watery eyes

New Delhi, Nov 5 (Agency) A thick blanket of smog covered the skyline of the national capital on Friday morning. People complained of watery eyes and itchy throat as the Air Quality Index slipped into the ‘hazardous’ category in several parts of Delhi. The concentrations of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 was measured beyond 999 per cubic metre at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium while it was found above 400 per cubic metre at neighbouring cities of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Noida. As per the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the AQI is unlikely to improve until Sunday. According to SAFAR, the air quality in Delhi will not improve until Sunday evening (November 7). The improvement would, however, just fluctuate in the ‘Very Poor’ category.

“The overall air quality of Delhi is plunged into the upper end of very poor category as predicted by SAFAR (within 5% accuracy). It will continue to fall now and may enter at the edge of very poor to Severe category by tonight even without any emission from firecrackers,” the SAFAR had said on Thursday. “If firecrackers are burned even 50 per cent of last year then PM2.5 will enter SEVERE category by midnight and shoot up rapidly by tomorrow early morning with AQI even crossing 500+,” it had warned. Despite the ban on firecrackers, people reportedly burst it at many areas contributing to the degradation of the air quality, amid increased contribution from farm fires. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.