New Delhi: The air in Delhi showed a small improvement on Friday morning. At 6 am, the city's Air Quality Index (AQI) marked 288, which comes under 'poor' category. A day earlier, the AQI was much worse and was marked at 373, according to data from the Sameer app run by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Some areas, including Anand Vihar (305) and Bawana (363), continued to face 'very poor' air quality, while Burari Crossing (275) and Chandni Chowk (203) recorded slightly better but fell under 'poor' levels.
On Thursday, Delhi's air had turned 'severe' with a reading of 373. Thick haze and smog covered different parts of the city, including Kartavya Path, Anand Vihar, Burari, and Akshardham, making the visibility to almost zero even early in the morning.
Cloud seeding delayed
Meanwhile, efforts to clean the air through cloud seeding, a process that helps create artificial rain have been postponed. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur said the experiment on Tuesday didn't work because there wasn't enough moisture in the clouds, required for this process. Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the next attempt will occur when the moisture level rises above the current 10-15 percent. According to the weather department, it is expected that humidity will increase after 4 pm, and the next trial will begin soon after that.
The AQI tells us how polluted the air is and how it can affect our health. It is based on the levels of harmful particles and gases like PM2.5, PM10, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone. The index is divided into six ranges- 'Good' (0-50) means clean air, 'Satisfactory' (51-100) may cause slight trouble for sensitive people, 'Moderate' (101-200) can create problem for those who has a slight breathing problem, 'Poor' (201-300) affects healthy people too, 'Very Poor' (301-400) can cause damage to the body with long exposure, and 'Severe' (401-500) is dangerous for everyone irrespective of health conditions.