Delhi air remains polluted, in 'very poor' category with AQI at 387

Delhi air remained toxic on Thursday as construction and demolition activities in the national capital continued after a brief halt alongside the entry of trucks into the state and the resumption of physical classes.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital was at 387 --'very poor'-- at 8 am, according to the Ministry of Earth Sciences' air quality forecast agency SAFAR. Readings below 50 are considered safe, while anything above 300 is considered hazardous or 'severe'.

Delhi's air quality in November was the worst in seven years, data showed. The air 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 this morning was the world's top most polluted city with an AQI of 540, said iQair, a website that tracks air quality worldwide. Kolkata and Mumbai were the only other Indian cities on the list at the fifth and eighth spot with an AQI of 197 and 178 respectively.

Preliminary data from a month-long experiment has shown that indoor air pollution levels were nearly half of the outdoor levels in Delhi-NCR during November-December so far.

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.