Delhi Pollution: Foggy Sunday morning, air quality recorded ‘poor’

Delhiites, on Sunday woke up to a foggy morning. The national capital is likely to be engulfed in a dense fog cover from today for the next two days, officials at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.  The air quality was recorded in the 'poor' category. The major pollutants PM 2.5 were recorded at 267 and PM 10 at 167 (poor category) in the Sukhdev Vihar area. In the Anand Vihar area, the Air Quality Index (AQI) PM 2.5 was at 237 and PM 10 at 165, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). At the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium area, PM 2.5 was at 186 and PM 10 at 182. AQI at Punjabi Bagh Delhi was recorded poor, PM 2.5 was at 207 while the PM 10 was at 144.

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On Saturday, while the night temperature was 8.2 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year, the day temperature was 22.7 degrees Celsius, which was one degree below normal.

“By December 18, we expect the night temperature to drop to around 6 degrees Celsius and the day temperature to around 21 degrees Celsius,” a senior official of the IMD said.

On Friday, the Central Pollution Control Board slapped a fine of Rs 1 crore each on three oil companies for their failure to install anti-pollution "vapour recovery" systems at fuel stations. The fine was slapped on public sector oil firms Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

Vapour recovery device is an instrument to capture displaced vapours that emerge from inside a vehicle's fuel tank while filling petrol or diesel in it.

Delhi is reeling under the menace of air pollution for the past couple of years. The region faced a major air quality crisis last year when severe pollution level forced the shutdown of schools and colleges. In 2016, the government tried to explore the possibility of cloud seeding for artificial rain but the plan never worked out. 

AQI categories:
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’
AQI between 51 and 100 is ‘satisfactory’
AQI between 101 and 200 is ‘moderate’
AQI between 201 and 300 is ‘poor’
AQI between 301 and 400 is ‘very poor’