Air Quality Very Poor In Delhi, Visibility Dips Due To Fog

The air quality in the national capital was in the ‘very poor’ category on Saturday morning – for the fifth consecutive day. The overall air quality in the city was 370 at 9.45 am; it was 'severe' with an AQI of 404 at 4 pm Friday.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'. An AQI above 500 falls in the 'severe plus' category.

According to data recorded by the Central Pollution Control Board at 8 am, the AQI at Anand Vihar, NSIT Dwarka, Vivek Vihar, and Wazirpur were registered at 466 (severe), 386 (very poor), 396 (very poor) and 429 (severe) respectively.

Delhi: Air quality in 'Very Poor' category, in area around Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium (India Gate circle), according to Central Pollution Control Board pic.twitter.com/2ndlc10reC

— ANI (@ANI) December 8, 2019

The national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius and maximum temperature of 24 degrees Celsius on Sunday with a blanket of fog affecting visibility.

Earlier on Saturday, the air traffic was badly affected in the Kashmir Valley as dense fog forced cancellation of all flights to and fro Srinagar airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, officials said.

A total of 27 flights were scheduled for the day including a couple of those for armed personnel, the officials said. "All the scheduled flights were cancelled due to poor visibility at the airport," an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said. He said the visibility at the airport was around 600 metres only this morning but since there was no improvement in the situation, the air traffic was suspended for the day.