Subhechcha Ganguly 
In an effort to strengthen anti-pollution controls, the city’s Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) was implemented in Stage 3 on Thursday by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM). A day after the air quality in Delhi entered the severe category for the first time this season, causing the government to implement mitigation measures including banning the usage of older cars, a heavy cloud persisted over the city on Friday.At 8 a.m. on Friday, the average Air Quality Index (AQI) was 464 (severe). At 7:05 a.m., Mundka and Bawana nearly reached the upper limit of the AQI at 498 and 496. Every station fell into the severe category, with the exception of Dilshad Garden (367). Faridabad recorded an AQI of 442 while Greater Noida recorded 473.
The swift decline in atmospheric conditions and fog caused visibility to drop to 500 metres at Palam and 600 metres in Safdarjung. “This is the day’s lowest visibility level. Later in the day, no significant change is anticipated either, as wind speeds are not anticipated to exceed five kilometres per hour, according to a representative of the India Metrological Department.Additionally, schools for pupils in Classes 5 and below were closed for two days on Friday and Saturday due to the increasing pollution levels.On Thursday, the pollution levels increased after Delhi’s 24-hour average AQI of 392 at 4 p.m. fell just short of the severe threshold. The AQI average shot up to 427 shortly before midnight. At the top of the list were Mundka (453) and Anand Vihar (449).
At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Greater Noida had the poorest air quality in the entire National Capital Region (NCR), with an AQI rating of 402 (severe). With scores of 297 and 286, the AQIs of Gurugram and Ghaziabad fell into the low category.Wednesday’s Delhi Air Quality Index was 362 (extremely poor) prior to the influence of nearby sources of pollution being intensified by calm surface-level winds. Pollutants in Delhi contributed significantly to the city’s poor air quality, even as field fires in Punjab and Haryana kept getting worse and raising PM2.5 levels.
