Pollutants (PM 2.5, PM 10) at 12 of the 17 locations monitored yesterday showed recordings of less than 200 micrograms per cubic metre, the government claimed, adding that the volume was around 50 per cent less than the average figures since the odd-even regulations were enforced.
However, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) claimed that air pollutant concentrations have started to increase again after a dip over the last weekend due to "combination of emission and meteorological factors".
Twenty-hour average of PM 2.5 and PM 10 were 173 and 279 today, as per readings of the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), that fall in the 'very poor category'.
Real time PM 2.5 readings of static DPCC stations in Anand Vihar, Mandir Marg, Punjabi Bagh and R K Puram were 415, 72, 95 and 153 ug/m3. The safe limit is 60 while that of PM 10 is 100.