Delhi’s air quality improves from ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’

With a slight improvement in the average air quality index on Sunday, Delhi’s AQI stepped down from ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ category, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

National capital’s average AQI levels witnessed a drop of 26 points, recording at 279 on Sunday against 305 recorded on Saturday. The key pollutant in the city’s air continued to be the PM 2.5 particles, as per the readings taken from 38 out of the 39 air quality monitoring stations across the city. Notably, for the past two days, the AQI levels have witnessed improvement.

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NCR cities like Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida, and Greater Noida are also reeling under the ‘poor’ category AQI, which was earlier ‘very poor’.

Meanwhile, stages I and II of the anti-pollution measures under the Graded Action Response Plan (GRAP) of the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and adjoining areas remain in effect across the national capital.

The agencies had intensified the pollution mitigation actions under stages I and II of the GRAP as per the directions by the CAQM, when it had been revoked to stage III curbs, upon witnessing improvement in the air quality recently.

CAQM is continuously monitoring the situation in Delhi and the NCR region in terms of AQI levels and also the actions taken by the state government agencies to keep a check on pollutants.

However, according to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), the air quality is likely to be in the “Very Poor” category from 01.12.2025 to 03.12.2025.

The wind speed on Sunday evening, as per the IITM, was around 18.5 kmph in Delhi, which helped in the dispersion of the pollutants.

The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday morning in the city was 8.3 degrees C, two notches below the season’s average. The temperatures are likely to witness a drop by up to three degrees Celsius in the coming days, according to the weather agency.

IMD suggests that shallow fog is expected in morning hours on Monday and Tuesday, while shallow to moderate fog is likely during morning hours thereafter.