Air quality deteriorates in Delhi; AQI rises to 301 in ‘very poor’ category

The air quality in the national capital again settled in the very poor category on Monday with an overall Air Quality Index AQI of 301After 24 days of very poor air often bordering the severe zone the air quality in Delhi on Sunday had improved to the poor category with a reading of 279However data from the Central Pollution Control Boards CPCB Sameer app showed that 24 of the 38 monitoring stations in the city registered air quality in the very poor category while the remaining 14 recorded poor levelsAccording to CPCB Nehru Nagar recorded the highest AQI in the city at 354 as of 7 am placing it in the very poor categoryOther highly affected areas included Rohini 341 Bawana 339 RK Puram 336 Mundka 330 and Punjabi Bagh 328 all of which continued to experience hazardous air qualityOn the lower end of the spectrum NSIT Dwarka registered the least AQI at 195 falling under the moderate category This was followed by Mandir Marg at 207 and IGI Airport T3 at 248 which while still unhealthy reflected comparatively better air quality than most other monitoring stations across the citySeveral other key stations including Anand Vihar 325 Jahangirpuri 321 Vivek Vihar 321 Shadipur 324 and Pusa 322 continued to remain in the very poor category highlighting the widespread nature of pollution across DelhiThe winter chill meanwhile intensified with the minimum temperature dropping to 57 degrees Celsius which is 46 degrees below the seasons average the India Meteorological Department IMD saidThe relative humidity was recorded at 100 per cent at 830 amThe IMD said the maximum temperature is expected to settle around 24 degrees CelsiusAs per CPCB standards an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered good 51100 satisfactory 101200 moderate 201300 poor 301400 very poor and 401500 severeMeanwhile the air quality scenario in DelhiNCR has shown a consistent improvement this year with the region recording its lowest average AQI for the JanuaryNovember period in the last eight years excluding 2020 the COVID19 lockdown year according to data shared on SundayAs per official figures Delhis average AQI between January and November 2025 stood at 187 an improvement over 201 in 2024 190 in 2023 199 in 2022 197 in 2021 203 in 2019 and 213 in 2018According to CPCB the AQI which ranges from 0 to 500 is divided into six categories each reflecting the level of pollution and associated health risks