Delhi woke up to ‘moderate’ air quality on Thursday, December 5, as the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 161 at 8 am, a relief for Delhiites after weeks of ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ category pollution. A thin layer of smog, however, engulfed the city with winters setting in, bringing the minimum temperatureto 9 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

Delhi’s air quality started deteriorating around Diwali and hit its worst level – ‘severe plus‘ – in mid-November, prompting authorities to impose the Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which includes curbs like ban on the operation of Delhi-registered BS-IV and below diesel-operated medium goods vehicles (MGVs) and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), except for essential services.

Delhi AQI today

The overall AQI recorded in Delhi was 161, categorised as ‘moderate’ as of 8 am, according to the data of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The 24-hour average AQI of the city was recorded at 178 at 4 pm on Wednesday, registering an improvement from 268 on Tuesday.

According to the CPCB data, the AQI at Anand Vihar stood at 178 as of 8 am, 194 at Chandani Chowk, 130 at ITO, 152 at Wazirpur, 147 at Okhla Phase 2, 145 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, 164 at Patparganj, 107 at Aya Nagar, 128 at Lodhi Road, 162 at IGI Airport (T3), and 152 at Punjabi Bagh.

However, areas such as RK Puram recorded an AQI of 204, Mundka 222, Shadipur 249, Nehru Nagar 247 and Jahangirpuri 206, categorised as ‘poor’.

An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate, 201-300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor and 401-500 is severe.

Delhi’s minimum temperature recorded at 5.30 am on Thursday was 9 degrees Celsius.

Supreme Court says no to easing GRAP curbs

Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court said ‘no’ to easing GRAP-IV restrictions. A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and AG Masih also noted that none of the NCR states—Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh—complied with its direction to pay compensation to construction workers and directed the Chief Secretaries of these states to be present on thenext date virtually.

The apex court said that when it summons top officials then only the ball starts rolling.

The Supreme Court also clarified that it will allow relaxations only after observing a downward trend, adding that that it will hear the parties on Thursday on the aspects of modification of the applicability of GRAP IV.