Aided by rain and favourable wind speed, Delhi saw a marginal betterment in the air quality after weeks of battling intense pollution levels with many parts of the capital clocking an AQI (Air Quality Index) in the 'severe' category for days. On Tuesday morning, the overall air quality in the national capital was recorded at 369 -- a slight improvement from the previous day.
Daily recorded a rainfall of 7.2 mm of rainfall till 8.30 pm on Monday which further helped with an improved windspeed of 20 kilometres causing dispersion of pollutants, an IMD official told PTI. The national capital recorded an AQI of 387 at 10 pm, improving from 395 at 4 pm and 400 at 9 am.
Experiencing some respite, a resident of the Lodhi Road area, Vipin Kumar said, "Morning Walk would feel good today. The weather is good today. Rainfall has cleared the weather a lot..."
Another resident, Uday Pratap Singh said, "There is some relief. There was a lot of pollution earlier but with the rain, it is better now. It feels good..."
This season, the national capital witnessed drastic pollution levels with 10 days of severe air quality in November so far compared to the three days of severe air pollution days last year in the same month.
A joint project by the Delhi government and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur held biomass burning as the leading reason for Delhi's bad air this season with a contribution of 31 to 51 per cent to the pollution in the national capital over the last few days.
The Delhi government has directed agencies and concerned departments to keep a close watch on the situation and ensure that anti-pollution curbs were strictly implemented on polluting vehicles and biomass burning.
The bad weather on Monday compelled at least 16 flights between 6 pm and 8 pm to be diverted at the Delhi airport, an official told news agency PTI.