After a brief respite with relatively clean air over the last two days, city’s air quality slipped to “very poor” zone on Monday. Despite favourable weather conditions such as wind speed, temperatures and Relative Humidity (RH), noxious pollutants were recorded high in various monitoring agencies.
The Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) National Air Quality Index had Delhi in the ‘very poor’ zone with a score of 326. It was in ‘moderate’ zone with a score of 292 on Sunday and 298 on Saturday. System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), a unit of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), too marked city’s air quality “Red” on pollution index.
Experts attributed sudden deterioration of air quality to the impact of sporadic drizzle in flushing out pollutants ebbed and more vehicles hit the streets on the first working day of the week.
According to environment experts, more than Delhi, areas surrounding the national Capital received drizzle helping wash away the accumulated particulates. That was the reason the city enjoyed the season’s best quality air over the last two days.