Delhi citizens struggle to breath as air quality inches towards 'severe'

Delhi and NCR woke up to a rather smoggy day with overcast skies on Friday as the air quality level in the national capital city inches towards the 'severe' category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

In the morning, the CPCB recorded the overall Air Quality Index of Delhi at 358 which falls in the 'very poor' category. The Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research also registered AQI in the 'very poor' category. The fall in the air quality is attributed to the smouldering smoke emanating from the Bhalswa landfill site in northwest Delhi.

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A fire tender was stationed at the landfill to douse the fire at the dumping site, a Delhi Fire Service official said on Friday. Fire had raged at the landfill site on October 20 and the flames were brought under control on Tuesday, DFS officials said.
        
Taking measures, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation on Thursday intensified work on stopping incidents of waste burning.

Air Quality Index (AQI) categories

AQI of 0-50 is considered good
AQI of 51-100 is satisfactory
AQI of 101-200 is considered moderate
AQI of 201-300 is graded poor
AQI of 301-400 is very poor
AQI of 401 and 500 is severe

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The air quality in Delhi, which showed signs of improvement from 'very poor' to 'poor' on Monday fell on Thursday to AQI 331. The air quality in NCR - Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurgaon was also in the 'very poor' category, according to CPCB data.