Delhi Breathes ‘Very Poor’ Air Again; Nehru Nagar Records 351 AQI
One-day clean air miracle ends as winter smog returns with vengeance.
Delhi’s brief escape from hazardous air ended abruptly on Monday morning when the city-wide Air Quality Index surged to 298, just two points shy of the “very poor” threshold. After enjoying its cleanest November day in weeks on Sunday with an AQI of 279, the capital awoke beneath a dense blanket of fog mixed with smoke that trapped pollutants and concentrated pollutants, reversing the gains made by strong weekend winds.
By 7 a.m., 22 of the city’s 39 monitoring stations had already slipped into the “very poor” zone. South Delhi’s Nehru Nagar recorded the highest reading at 351, while long-standing pollution hotspots painted a grim picture: Anand Vihar 323, Bawana 337, Jahangirpuri 319, Mundka 330, Punjabi Bagh 326, Shadipur 325, and Wazirpur 321. Across the National Capital Region, Noida emerged as the most polluted satellite city at 316, followed closely by Ghaziabad at 291 and Greater Noida at 288.
Despite the immediate setback, the Commission for Air Quality Management highlighted a silver lining in long-term data: Delhi’s January-to-November average AQI this year stands at 187, the lowest for the period since 2018 except for the pandemic year 2020. Only three days crossed the “severe” 400-mark so far, a sharp decline from 11–17 severe days in previous years, reflecting stricter enforcement and fewer stubble-burning episodes.
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Both key pollutants showed similar improvement over eleven months. PM2.5 averaged 85 micrograms per cubic metre and PM10 averaged 183—the best figures since 2018, again excluding 2020—demonstrating that sustained anti-pollution measures are yielding gradual results even as seasonal meteorological factors continue to challenge daily readings.
Compounding the pollution trap, Delhi logged its coldest November in five years, with Monday’s minimum temperature settling at 8.3 degrees Celsius, two degrees below normal. The India Meteorological Department forecasts continued cold conditions with daytime highs around 24 degrees Celsius, creating a temperature inversion that prevents pollutants from dispersing and raising fears of a prolonged “very poor” to “severe” spell in the days ahead.
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