The air in the city is getting worse by every passing day as the level of particulate matter (PM) 10 was observed at 545µg/m3 in Anand Vihar on Thursday- five times higher than the prescribed standards of real time air quality.
According to the National Air Quality Index (NAQI), air quality of trans-Yamuna’s Anand Vihar was ‘severe’ while System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) showed that the average for the entire city oscillated between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.
“Severe”, used to describe the highest level of pollution, is declared when PM 2.5 and PM 10 cross 253, 421 micro gram per cubic metres respectively.
In RK Puram PM10 was 451 µg/m3 and PM 2.5 was 237 µg/m3 while in Mandir Marg the PM was 354 µg/m3 and 227 µg/m3 respectively.
Also, the air quality in Punjabi Bagh was observed lethal as concentration of harmful pollutants was 539 µg/m3 and 224 µg/m3 in terms of PM 10 and PM 2.5 respectively.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC)’s real-time monitoring painted worse situation with PM 2.5 and benzene levels as high as 237 and 15.90 µg/m3, 14.95 µg/m3 in some areas.
The safe limit of Benzene is five micrograms per cubic metre.