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The overall air quality in the national capital remained in the 'moderate' category for the second consecutive day on Thursday morning, with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 173, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
The overall air quality index on Wednesday was recorded at 193 while on Tuesday the city recorded an AQI of 286 (Poor). The air quality in Gurugram also remained in the 'moderate' category as the city recorded an AQI of 152. While the AQI in Noida was recorded at 262, which was in the poor zone. In Pusa, the AQI was 156, while in the Airport region it was 140. For Mathura Road, it was 152. The air quality index in the IIT Delhi region was recorded at 137, at Lodhi Road it was 124, and at Ayanagar it was 144. While the air quality in Delhi University and Dhirpur region was in the poor category with overall AQI at 215 and 314 respectively. The level of PM 2.5 and PM 10 was recorded at 82 in the 'moderate' category and 161 in the 'moderate' category respectively in Delhi. Air Quality Index is a tool for effective communication of air quality status to people in terms, which are easy to understand. It transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour. The Air Quality Index from 0 to 100 is considered as good, while from 100 to 200 it is moderate, from 200 to 300 it is poor, and from 300 to 400 it is said to be very poor and from 400 to 500 or above it is considered as severe. Amid continuing poor air quality, the Sub-Committee for invoking actions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) held a meeting on November 18 to review the progress of the actions implemented under Stage II along with Stage I of the GRAP in the entire NCR. As per the dynamic model and weather/ meteorological forecast provided by IMD/ IITM, the overall air quality is likely to fluctuate largely between 'Poor' to the lower end of the 'Very Poor' categories in the next few days. The predominant surface wind is predicted to be coming from the North/ North-West direction in Delhi, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said. The Sub-Committee of the Commission is closely watching the situation and will review the air quality scenario accordingly. (ANI)
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