The air quality in the national capital remained in the "poor" category on Wednesday morning, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 281 at 7 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). On Tuesday morning, the air quality was in the "very poor" category, with the AQI recorded at 309 at 7 am. The slight improvement was seen after two straight days of severe air quality, when the AQI had touched 316 on Monday and 309 on Tuesday. However, the overall situation in the city continues to remain worrying. As per the latest readings, Lodhi Road recorded comparatively cleaner air with an AQI of 145 which falls under the moderate category.
Among other stations, Anand Vihar registered an AQI of 280 also in the poor range, while Punjabi Bagh logged 224 in the same category. Dwarka showed comparatively better air with an AQI of 188 which comes under the moderate bracket. In Noida, the Sector 1 zone reported an AQI of 227 at 7 am, whereas the reading near Sector 62 stood at 172 which is classified as moderate.
It should be noted here that 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".
Wind direction changes affected flight operations
On Tuesday evening, as many as eight flights were diverted at the Delhi airport due to easterly winds, according to an official. The flights of IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express were diverted to Jaipur, the official said, adding that the situation has normalised. The official said that a change in wind direction and easterly winds resulted in the diversions as the flights could not land in those weather conditions. The diversions happened between 1800 hours and 2000 hours.
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