Delhi City reports season's first poor air quality day

New Delhi: Delhi reclaimed its dubious honour of having the season's first 'poor air quality day' on Wednesday.

The national capital was enveloped in a thick layer of haze over parts of the city Wednesday morning following the overnight Dussehra celebrations.

On Tuesday, Delhi's Air Quality Index was 179; on Wednesday it climbed by 59 points to 238, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board.

Two of Delhi's 59 air monitoring stations, in fact, registered 'very poor' air quality, with levels of 308 and 314.

Delhi's 16 stations, including Anand Vihar, reported "moderate" category.

Multiple reasons were for this decline in air quality; seasonal weather shifts, like falling temperatures and fluctuating wind speeds, were the most common.

Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said on Wednesday that Delhi implemented Stage I of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) later this year than in previous years. He added that the government was prepared with preventive measures, including restrictions on polluting vehicles, staggered office timings and work-from-home arrangements, to combat winter air pollution.

Sirsa said the city had gone longer than usual without GRAP restrictions this year, attributing the improvement to the Rekha Gupta-led government's sustained efforts and public participation.

The minister's remarks came as the Commission for Air Quality Management on Wednesday imposed Stage I of GRAP across Delhi-NCR after the capital's air quality slipped into the 'poor' category. Sirsa said the government was adopting both short- and long-term measures under its 11-point air pollution mitigation plan, involving nearly 30 agencies working together to tackle pollution.

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The Hans India