The air quality index (AQI) plunged to the 'very poor' category in some areas of the Delhi-NCR on Friday, days before the festival of Diwali. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the AQI was recorded at 369 in Delhi's Akshardham on Friday morning.
Similarly, it plunged to 363 in Anand Vihar and to 293 in Wazirabad. At ITI Jahangirpuri, the AQI remained in the poor category at 228. In Punjabi Bagh, it was at 226. In neighbouring Ghaziabad, the AQI remained in the 'very poor' category, though, with Loni recording an AQI of 332.
On Thursday, the AQI had remained in the 'poor' category in Delhi, with the air quality slipping into 'very poor' category in several areas. According to the CPCB, an AQI from 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.
Worsening air quality and experts' advise
With air quality worsening in Delhi-NCR, health experts have advised the people to wear masks and avoid going outside their residences. The Delhi government is also mulling artificial rain through cloud seeding, possibly a day after Diwali.
"When the Meteorological Department gives us the green signal in the next 2-3 days, a sample of the cloud seeding will be taken after blasting/spraying it. We're waiting for clouds to appear soon. The day after Diwali, or the next day, whenever the weather department gives us permission, we will do it. Whenever they give us permission, we'll take a plane and get permission to fly within three hours. We've already got everything we need to do the cloud seeding," said Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday.
"About cloud seeding, we have all the requested permissions and have already trained our pilots. Both pilots of this plane conducted a trial over the area where the trial is to be conducted. In this trial, they familiarised themselves with the area and the plane. This entire training process has been ongoing for the past 4 days, and has been successful so far," Sirsa added.
