Day after New Year, Delhi's air quality improves, now in 'Poor' category

New Delhi, Jan 2: The air quality in Delhi continued to be in the 'Poor' category with major pollutants PM 2.5 and PM 10 at 293 and 295 respectively in the Lodhi Road area, as reported by ANI on Wednesday.

Delhi and NCR had woken up to a smoggy morning on Tuesday, the first day of the new year, with air quality ranging from 'Hazardous' category to 'Severe'.

The overall AQI in the national capital on New Year's Day was 404.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the air quality was likely to remain in the 'Severe' category owing to low wind speed, which is highly unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said,''We're taking a number of steps like tree plantation drives and buying 3000 buses etc.We sanctioned one of largest metro phases yesterday. If the need arises, we'll implement the Odd-Even scheme.Each individual has to play a role in reducing pollution.''

Delhi has been battling alarming pollution levels since October. In the last 10 days, the city has witnessed long spells of severe air quality which continued to plague the city on New Year's Eve and on the first day of 2019.