New Delhi: Delhiites woke up to another foggy morning on Thursday as pollutant-laden smog covered the national capital for the fourth consecutive day, resembling a "gas chamber" and forcing the residents to inhale 'severe' quality air.
According to System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the air quality index in Delhi on Wednesday touched the 500 mark, marked severe.
The peak levels of pollution (PM2.5 and PM10), recorded over ten times the safe limit during the morning hours, gradually came down across monitoring stations as the day progressed, but saw a sudden spike after evening.
The safe limits of these microscopic particles (PM2.5 and PM10) are 60 and 100 micrograms per cubic metre respectively.
The city also witnessed low visibility and smog throughout Wednesday evening and night.
News agency ANI has tweeted out a video that shows the capital city engulfed in smog even after three days of Diwali. Watch it here!
#WATCH Thick smog engulfes the capital city even after three days of Diwali. pic.twitter.com/2SZGeRwmPd
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 3, 2016
On the day of Diwali (october 30), Pitampura in North Delhi recorded the maximum at 1,238 micrograms per cubic metre, which is 20.63 times higher than the permissible limits.
On Diwali, the levels of PM 2.5 levels across each of the 11 pollution monitoring centres were anywhere between a staggering 4 times to 12 times of what they were the week before (October 24).
SAFAR had forecast that air quality was likely to improve slowly from November 2 but all its monitoring centres in the city recorded severe quality air in the evening hours.
(With Agencies input)
