Delhi Pollution: Air quality slides, still at 'lower end of Very Poor' category, AQI at 303

New Delhi: A layer of smog stuck around Delhi`s sky as the air quality in the national capital continue to remain in the `very poor` category on Thursday morning with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 303, as per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).On Wednesday morning, the overall AQI of the city stood at 329. The National Capital Region (NCR) also continued to witness bad air as Noida also registered very poor air quality with an AQI of 309.

Meanwhile, the air quality of Gurugram was "moderate" as the city registered 144 on the AQI meter. The level of PM 2.5 and PM 10 was recorded at 147 in the `very poor` category and 275 in the `poor` category respectively in Delhi. AQI recorded at all major monitoring stations in the national capital also stood in the `very poor` category.

Pusa recorded AQI of 290 while Dhirpur recorded an AQI of 295. Lodhi Road recorded 266, Delhi Airport (T3) recorded an AQI of 303 and Mathura road recorded an AQI of 319. The AQI at Delhi University stood at 322 while IIT Delhi stood at 252 in `poor category.` Ayanagar also was at the lower end of the `poor` category at 297 at 10:15 am on Thursday.

Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe. Following the improvement in the quality of air in the national capital, the primary schools in the national capital reopened on Wednesday after remaining closed since November 5 following a Delhi government order.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday announced that the primary schools will reopen from today (November 9) and the ban on outdoor activities of classes senior to them has also been lifted.This ban was imposed in the wake of increasing pollution and the decreasing air quality of the national capital.

These directions were issued in view of the Central government`s panel Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to revoke the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) stage 4 after the national capital`s air quality turned `severe` last week, many parents are unhappy with the government`s decision as they are of the opinion that it is difficult for these minors to manage in such polluted air.