The level of pollutants in the atmosphere rose on Wednesday evening as a thick blanket of fog enveloped parts of the city, a situation that is likely to persist on Thursday, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.
The average levels of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 and PM 10, extremely fine respirable particles, were 152 and 251 respectively. The corresponding safe limits are 60 and 100.
The official said that an active western disturbance will bring down the temperature, possibly below 10 degrees Celsius, resulting in the subsequent formation of fog.
Real-time PM 2.5 and PM 10 readings of several Delhi Pollution Control Committee stations were six to seven times above the prescribed safe standards around 8 p.m.
The Delhi government said that its air quality sampling across 16 locations on Tuesday established “consistent decline” in pollution which shows a “highly encouraging trend“.
“PM 2.5 air pollution levels on Tuesday at these 16 locations showed recordings of less than 100 (ug/m3) at nine locations, which is around 50 per cent less than average recordings since the odd-even regulations were put in place,” said a statement.
