NEW DELHI: For the first time this season, Delhi’s air quality turned ‘very poor’ Monday, with the air quality index (AQI) touching 316 at 11 am and worsening to 324 by 4 pm, the worst since Feb 11 this year.As a result, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) imposed GRAP-II, which calls on govt to impose staggered office timings and a parking fee hike.However, under Delhi govt’s latest anti-pollution framework that came into effect on Nov 1, private construction is already banned from Nov 1 to Jan 31, with a blanket ban between Dec 10 and Jan 20. Its winter pollution framework also calls for a ban on entry of non-Delhi-registered BS-VI or vehicles below the standard.With GRAP-II kicking in, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation will run 20 additional trips from Tuesday. It has been running 20 extra trips on its network on weekdays from Oct 22 after Stage I of GRAP came into effect, taking the total number to 40 now.Under an annual package designed as an additional layer to GRAP, govt has also put in place special enforcement teams, ANPR cameras and an AI-enabled Integrated Command and Control Centre to monitor violations.Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) cited low wind speed and high humidity as reasons for the worsening of AQI. It estimated that 31% of pollution in the city was from local sources and 69% from outside.“There were better meteorological conditions this Oct due to repeated rain, cyclonic events and strong winds. Though the emissions did not have any drastic reduction, they were being dispersed across larger areas quickly.“Now that weather conditions are turning unfavourable, high levels of emissions are resulting into hazardous air quality, like the previous years. Looking forward, when festive celebration and stubble burning peaks are expected to coincide, if appropriate and aggressive action are not taken to cut emission in a larger airshed, air quality in Delhi and nearby areas are set to worsen further,” said Sunil Dahiya, founder of think tank Envirocatalyst.Vehicular emissions were identified as the largest single source in the source-apportionment estimate, accounting for 20% of the pollution in Delhi Monday. Among the worst-affected monitoring locations were Jahangirpuri, where AQI stood at 438, followed by Rohini at 417, Punjabi Bagh at 414, Alipur at 396 and Vivek Vihar at 391.According to IITM’s Air Quality Early Warning System bulletin, surface winds are expected to reach around 10 kmph in the morning and pick up to 15 kmph in the afternoon on Nov 2 and 3.The forecast put Delhi’s air in the ‘very poor’ category over the next few days. On Nov 2, 2025, the AQI under similar weather conditions was at 366.The city saw a hazy sky with temperatures below normal Monday. The maximum at Safdarjung, the base station, was 29.5 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal. The minimum temperature was 16.4°C, a degree above normal, compared with 18°C a day earlier. Met expects maximum and minimum temperatures to hover around 28-30°C and 15-17°C Tuesday.
