Air quality status in Delhi moderate

The air quality status at Delhi's five out of nine air quality monitoring stations was on Friday labelled as 'moderate' which can create breathing discomfort to the people with lung, asthma and heart diseases.

According to the Air Quality Index monitored by Central Pollutional Control Board (CPCB), while the prominent pollutant at stations like IHBAS and IGI Airport was PM2.5, the other major pollutants at Shadipur, Civil Lines and Anand Vihar are CO, NO2 and PM10. Air Quality sub-index and health breakpoints are evolved for eight for pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3 and Pb for which short term National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.

However, in comparison to the Air Quality Index of ten other cities including Faridabad, Agra, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Luknow, Navi Mumbai and Varanasi, Delhi's air has been labelled as 'satisfactory' and Agra, Faridabad and Hyderabad as 'Good'.