Delhi-NCR AQI crisis: Noida records year’s 1st ‘severe’ air quality day; Ghaziabad most polluted city in country

NOIDA: The region's air quality deteriorated sharply into the ‘severe' category on Sunday after remaining in the ‘very poor' range for five days on trot. Visibility remained poor during the morning hours, dropping to as low as 100m.

Noida logged an AQI of 430 against Saturday's 338, while Greater Noida's AQI shifted to 402 from 332. In Ghaziabad, the AQI was recorded at 458, compared to 394 the day before.

Delhi's AQI stood at 440, against 428 on Saturday. This was the highest Jan reading since the index had touched 447 on Jan 14, 2024, and the joint-worst on record for the second half of the month — 440 was also the reading on Jan 17, 2019




According to the data from Central Pollution Control Board's portal, Ghaziabad recorded the worst air quality in the country on Sunday. This also marked both Noida and Ghziabad's first ‘severe' air day of the year, with air quality largely ranging between ‘poor' and ‘very poor' for most of Jan.

Data showed that all air monitoring stations in Noida recorded ‘severe' air on Sunday, with Sector 1 recording the worst AQI at 460, followed by Sector 116 (AQI 443), Sector 62 (AQI 410), and Sector 125 (AQI 406). In Greater Noida, Knowledge Park V (AQI 431) also recorded ‘severe' air, while Knowledge Park III (AQI 372) was in the ‘very poor' range.

In Ghaziabad, too, all four air monitoring stations recorded ‘severe' air quality. Loni recorded the worst AQI at 479, followed by Vasundhara (AQI 475), Indirapuram (AQI 456), and Sanjay Nagar (AQI 422).

Calm winds linked to a western disturbance, along with dense fog, led to the air quality plunging. The highest contribution of Delhi's air pollutants was from its own transport sector (12.5%), followed by emissions from GB Nagar at 12%, Ghaziabad (9.4%) and Bulandshahr at 8.34%, according to the Centre's Decision Support System.

The air is likely to improve to ‘very poor' on Monday and remain within the range on Tuesday, according to the Centre's Air Quality Early Warning System.

According to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), on Monday, the city is expected to witness a partly cloudy sky, with moderate fog at many places and dense fog at isolated locations during the morning hours. The predominant surface wind is likely to be from the northeast, associated with calm conditions reaching up to 5 kmph in the morning, before increasing to around 12 kmph in the afternoon and then decreasing to about 8 kmph during the evening and night.

In view of worsening air pollution levels, the CAQM implemented Stage IV ofGRAP on Saturday.

The minimum temperature was 5.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday, two notches below normal, and 0.9°C higher than Saturday's minimum. As cold wave conditions eased across the region, the minimum is predicted to rise to around 9°C to 11°C by Jan 23. Delhi may receive very light rain on Jan 23 under the influence of a fresh western disturbance, said a Met official.