Delhi's air pollution rises again; further deterioration in air quality warned

The air quality fell again in the national capital and regions around it, even as the effect from stubble burning had 'almost seized' with Delhi choking on its locally generated pollution.

As finer particle increased at an alarming rate in Delhi's air, official agencies cautioned against physical exertion outdoors, advising asthmatics to keep medicine handy.

The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was 336 or 'very poor' against 262 or 'poor' on Sunday, on a scale of 0 to 500.

Ghaziabad was the worse polluted region in NCR, with an AQI of 406 or 'severe' against 295 or 'poor' on Sunday.

Anand Vihar, Wazirpur and Mundka were among the worse polluted regions of Delhi with AQI well above 'severe' level.

Air quality will remain very poor with a gradual increasing trend, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

"The air quality is very poor and will remain very poor with a gradually increasing trend for next two days and then likely to decline," SAFAR said.

Lower wind speeds led to the increase in pollution in the entire region. Tuesday is likely to be more polluted which is not good for AQI.

"The contribution from stubble biomass has almost seized," SAFAR added.

The AQI was 309 in Faridabad, 361 in Greater Noida, 356 in Noida, all considered 'very poor'. Gurugram had the cleanest air quality with AQI of 256.

(With inputs from agencies.)