Air quality continues to deteriorate with several areas in “severe” category STORY: Delhi’s air quality continued to deteriorate further on Monday, with many areas in the “severe” category, even as authorities intensified their action by imposing penalties, anti-pollution measures under the third stage of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Most of the monitoring stations out 39 in Delhi recorded AQI more than 400 at 8 am, according to the data of Central Pollution Control Board. The city’s 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI) on Saturday, recorded at 4 pm daily, stood at 417, making it the worst in the country. On Friday, the AQI level was 396. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the “severe” category air poses risks to healthy individuals and severely impacts those with existing health conditions. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’ and above 450 ‘severe plus’. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted very dense fog for the day with minimum temperature of 14 degrees Celsius and a maximum temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. As the restrictions under the third stage of GRAP came into force on Friday, authorities intensified action against those violating norms with teams of traffic police, transport department and others penalising violators.

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