After a brief relief on Friday morning, the air quality in NCR went abysmally low. The festivities on Friday acted as the fuel to the fire, as the haze enveloped national capital the average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 276, which is regarded as poor.
The air quality had improved Friday after rainfall lashed some parts of the national capital, according to authorities. The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded at 276 which falls in the poor category.
However the relief was short lived as by the evening the air quality had fallen again, making the atmosphere difficult for breathing, many residents had even complaint of facing breathing issues.
"After the rain in morning I thought we will see a cleaner atmosphere, but by the evening I had some breathing problems, my son also felt itching in his eyes," said Jatin Arora, who works in a IT company.
While AQI of PM10 in Anand Vihar area reached up to 500, which lies in severe category the Ashok Vihar area also had severe level of pollutants in its air at 405 AQI, Mundka area also witnesed severe level of pollutants with dominant pollutant being PM2.5 at 454.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the air quality had deteriorated to the very poor category, alarming authorities who were planning to roll out more stringent measures to combat pollution.
A senior official said the reason for improvement of air quality was the rainfall Thursday which lashed parts of the national capital, cleansing the air of the pollutants.
On Thursday, the PM2.5 (presence of particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) touched a new high at 158. The PM2.5, also called "fine particulates," can be a matter of more serious health concern than PM10. A Central Pollution Control Board official said a number of factors were responsible for the deteriorating air quality, including vehicular pollution and construction activities.