New Delhi: Amid no sign of relief from toxic air, Delhiites once again again witnessed the air quality slipping to ‘Severe’ category on Tuesday. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data on Wednesday morning showed AQI at 390, which extremely high as compared to 304 on Tuesday.

On Monday, Delhi’s AQI was 290. Notably, out of 39 monitoring locations across the city, 19 stations recorded AQI levels exceeding 400, once again risking adverse health impacts for the public. Among the areas which recorded heavy toxic air include - Anand Vihar (421), Burari (407), Chandni Chowk (471), Vivek Vihar (437), Mundka, Bawana (418), Rohini (420), Sonia Vihar (411), Ashok Vihar (418), Punjabi Bagh (412) and others.

Delhi's AQI may not improve soon

According to Air Quality Early Warning System the pollution in Delhi may not improve anytime soon. The AQI in Delhi may remain remain in the "very poor" category till December 5. It further said that pollution levels may continue to remain at same range for next six days as well, suggesting no improvement in air quality soon. The CPCB standards says that an AQI level of 0–50 is classified as good, 51–100 satisfactory, 101–200 moderate, 201–300 poor, 301–400 very poor, and 401–500 severe.

It may be noted that the pollution coming from transport remained the largest local source of emissions on Tuesday. As per news agency PTI, the pollution coming out of vehicles suggested 18.4% of Delhi’s overall pollution. The pollution coming out of transport w2as followed by by emissions coming from from peripheral industries (9.2%). The cities near Delhi also witnessed huge pollution, including Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gurugram and Noida.

What CSE report says

Releasing a report recently, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said, "More worrying is the daily synchronised rise of PM2.5 and other toxic gases of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) largely from vehicles and combustion sources, creating a toxic cocktail that has gone unnoticed. The long-term air quality trend in Delhi has also plateaued without showing improvement. This signals an urgent need for deep-rooted shifts in infrastructure and systems to upscale action to cut emissions from vehicles, industry, power plants, waste, construction and household energy.”