Delhi's air quality turns 'hazardous' with AQI at 494

Delhi's air quality reached alarming levels, reporting a hazardous AQI of 494NEW DELHI: Delhi's air quality plunged to the severe range on Friday morning, with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) rising to 494 at 7:31 am.Dense fog combined with pollution enveloped the national capital, reducing visibility in several areas, while multiple monitoring stations recorded severe pollution levels.According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), IIT Delhi recorded one of the highest AQI readings at 488. It was followed by ITO at 455, Anand Vihar at 419, Rohini at 413 and Rajokri Border at 402, with all these areas falling in the severe category.Several other parts of the city also reported very poor air quality. R K Puram recorded an AQI of 391, followed by Mandir Marg at 378, Dwarka Expressway at 369, Uttam Nagar at 363 and Lodhi Road at 341.The area around Dhaula Kuan recorded an AQI of 161, placing it in the moderate category, according to CPCB data.Meanwhile, the Delhi government has been undertaking measures to control pollution and minimise the impact of particulate matter. These include deploying water sprinklers across the state.Saurabh Bharadwaj questions CPCB AQI readingsOn Thursday, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj targeted the BJP over the sharp rise in Delhi's pollution levels following Diwali celebrations. He also questioned the credibility of the CPCB's AQI readings, describing the alleged discrepancy as a fraud against the city's 2 crore residents.Speaking to ANI, Bharadwaj cited a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and alleged that pollution data in Delhi had been manipulated. He claimed that the actual figures were 49 per cent higher than the readings displayed on government websites."Today, many newspapers completely exposed the Delhi government and the Central Pollution Control Board. CREA showed that the pollution shown for Delhi was 49% higher than what you were told-meaning it was almost one and a half times higher. So, if I put this into AQI terms, the AQI shown as 370 was actually 560, or maybe even higher. Why? Because the data they gave us yesterday when we met the CPCB was ridiculous.""The CPCB said that when our pollution level hits 999, we don't even consider that level, because we can't measure above 999 and we don't display 999. So it's just shown as zero.....So this fraud done with pollution wasn't just done with the numbers, but with the health of our kids, our elders, and the two crore people of Delhi," said Bharadwaj.CREA report flags missing pollution dataBharadwaj's remarks came after the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) studied hourly PM2.5 data from 59 monitoring stations in Delhi.The study found 255 missing hourly station records between 4 pm on November 8 and 4 pm on November 9.It also noted that the 24-hour average PM2.5 concentration rose from 269 to 400 micrograms per cubic metre, marking an increase of nearly 49 per cent.(With ANI inputs)