Delhi air remains in 'very poor' category without any improvement

The Air Quality Index (AQI) was 314 --'very poor'-- at 8 am, according to the state-run SAFAR

Delhi's air was toxic on Tuesday as schools, colleges remain shut and a ban on construction and demolition in the national capital continues. 

The Air Quality Index (AQI) was 314 --'very poor'-- at 8 am, according to the state-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). Readings below 50 are considered safe, while anything above 300 is considered hazardous or 'severe'.

The state government has ordered schools, colleges, other educational institutions to remain shut in Delhi. Meanwhile, property developers have moved the Supreme Court against its order to re-impose the ban, which has been implemented to control air pollution levels, on construction activities in the national capital.

Delhi's air quality in November was the worst in seven years, data showed. The national capital's air quality became worse after Diwali on November 4 as people violated a ban on bursting firecrackers while the pollution compounded due to an increase in stubble burning by farmers in areas adjoining the national capital.

Delhi was this morning the world's second most polluted city with an AQI of 193, said iQair, a website that tracks air pollution worldwide.

Air pollution costs Indian businesses $95 billion or roughly 3 per cent of its GDP every year, according to U.K.-based non-profit Clean Air Fund and the Confederation of Indian Industry, Bloomberg has reported.