Delhi and its surrounding regions began Sunday shrouded in a heavy blanket of smog, with the city’s average AQI touching 381 at 7 am, a level placed in the “very poor” bracket, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). This comes even as GRAP-IV remains officially in force across the NCR.
Many neighbourhoods saw no real improvement compared to the AQI of 359 recorded earlier Sunday morning, and several pockets were covered in thick, lingering haze. At the extreme end, Bawana posted an AQI of 435, entering the “severe” category, while NSIT Dwarka logged the lowest reading at 313, still within “very poor” levels.
In Anand Vihar, the air stayed heavily polluted with an AQI of 429, which the CPCB categorised as “very poor”. Other locations also saw high readings: Chandni Chowk at 390, RK Puram at 397, ITO at 384, Punjabi Bagh at 411, Patparganj at 401, Pusa at 360, and Dwarka Sector-8 at 386. Even iconic areas such as India Gate and Kartavya Path were engulfed in smog, where the AQI stood at 388, according to the pollution board.
For reference, CPCB’s AQI scale defines 0–50 as good, 51–100 satisfactory, 101–200 moderate, 201–300 poor, 301–400 very poor, and 401–500 severe.
A day earlier, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) announced changes to the Graded Response Action Plan, noting in a press statement that measures normally applied under GRAP Stage IV would now be enforced under Stage III throughout the NCR.
The release added that state governments and the Delhi administration would decide if public, municipal, and private offices should function at 50 per cent staff capacity, with remaining employees working from home. It also mentioned that the Central Government may decide on work-from-home permissions for its own workforce.
Political accusations surfaced on Friday when AAP Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that Delhi’s pollution crisis had escalated into a “public health emergency”.
He alleged “manipulation of air quality data” and said authorities had failed to apply the graded restrictions meant to reduce toxic air.
Bharadwaj further charged that the “BJP-run Delhi Government” was “fabricating AQI readings” and allowing construction activities to continue despite GRAP-3 prohibitions, asserting that “pollution levels of 500–700 were falsely recorded as 300–400 to avoid triggering mandatory restrictions.”
With agency inputs
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