New Delhi, Oct 29: Delhi’s air quality showed a slight improvement on Wednesday morning, though it remained in the “poor” category with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 273, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
On Tuesday, the city had recorded an AQI of 294 at 4 pm a marginal improvement from Monday’s “very poor” reading of 301. Despite the overall progress, 11 of Delhi’s 38 monitoring stations continued to record AQI levels above 300, remaining in the “very poor” range, CPCB’s Sameer app showed.
Amid rising pollution levels, Delhi carried out cloud seeding trials on Tuesday to induce artificial rainfall. The initiative, a joint effort between the Delhi government and IIT-Kanpur, aimed to reduce particulate matter concentrations in the air. The trials were conducted in areas including Burari, north Karol Bagh, Mayur Vihar, and Badli, with more sessions planned in the coming days, Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said.
A government report later in the evening noted that the trials had a measurable effect, with particulate matter (PM) levels falling at locations where the seeding was carried out. Though the India Meteorological Department (IMD) did not record significant rainfall, two light precipitation events 0.1 mm in Noida and 0.2 mm in Greater Noida were reported around 4 pm.
According to the report, PM2.5 levels in Mayur Vihar, Karol Bagh, and Burari dropped from 221, 230, and 229 before seeding to 207, 206, and 203 respectively afterward. Similarly, PM10 levels declined from 207–209 to around 163–177 across these areas.
Meanwhile, the IMD said the city’s minimum temperature was 18.2°C, about 2.1 degrees above normal, while the maximum temperature is likely to hover around 28°C. The weather department has also forecast shallow fog for Wednesday morning, with relative humidity recorded at 89 percent at 8:30 am.