Delhi gasps for breath as air quality continues to be ‘severe’

New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) Delhiites continued to gasp for breath on Thursday as the air quality continued to reel under ‘severe’ category in the city and the NCR region.

The average air quality index here was 460 at around 1200 hours according to the Central Pollution Control Board based on the data from more than 35 monitoring centres across the national capital.

The Delhi government on Wednesday had issued directions for the schools to remain closed for two days that is Thursday and Friday in view of the rise in air pollution.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday said that the government will access and can think of extending the odd-even measure that ends this Friday.

Air quality was severe in the neighbouring areas including Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad and others where the AQI was above 440 on Thursday.

The Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) EPCA authority had yesterday issued directions to shut operations for a while at certain industries and coal plants and others falling under certain guidelines.

Relative humidity was 90 per cent this morning while minimum temperature was recorded 15.4 degrees C, which also contribute to make the air dense, preventing dispersion of particulate matter.