Delhi’s air quality showed a marginal improvement on Wednesday morning but remained in the ‘Severe’ category, with the city recording a real-time AQI of 220 at 9:10 am.
Despite the dip from Tuesday evening’s CPCB reading of 282, a persistent layer of smog continued to blanket the capital, aided by mist, 71 per cent humidity, and light winds blowing at around 10 km/h.
Pollutant concentrations remained significantly elevated, with PM2.5 measured at 144 µg/m³ and PM10 at 187 µg/m³.
Many parts of the city woke up to a thick haze, and visibility remained low, similar to conditions reported on Tuesday across areas such as India Gate, Kartavya Path, ITO, Anand Vihar, and Ghazipur.
Several localities continued to fall under the ‘Very Poor’ bracket, including Jahangirpuri at an AQI of 313, Wazirpur at 305, and Vivek Vihar at 306, reflecting a decline in air quality overnight.
Some central regions, however, showed mild improvement. Chandni Chowk recorded an AQI of 281, while RK Puram, Punjabi Bagh, and IIT Delhi registered readings of 283, 279, and 218, respectively.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta reiterated that the government is “continuously making efforts to control every small and large source of air pollution in Delhi.”
In a post on X, the Chief Minister said, “Our government is working at a war footing to control pollution, while a comprehensive campaign is also underway to remove garbage. Both pollution control and cleanliness campaigns in Delhi are running in mission mode.”
According to the AQI categorisation, values between 0 and 50 are considered good, 51 to 100 satisfactory, 101 to 200 moderate, 201 to 300 poor to severe, 301 to 400 very poor, and 401 to 500 severe.
With its latest reading of 220, Delhi remains at the lower end of the severe range, although officials say the slight improvement could continue if favourable weather conditions develop through the day.
