Delhi's air quality index slides towards 'severe' category after parts of Bhalswa landfill site continue to smoulder

New Delhi: Air quality in the national capital deteriorated on Friday, gradually inching towards the ‘severe’ category, as parts of the massive Bhalswa landfill site continued to smoulder. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) recorded the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi at 358 this morning, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”. [caption id=“attachment_5424241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Smoke rises after a fire broke out at Bhalswa landfill site in New Delhi on 20 October. PTI[/caption] The Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research also reported an AQI in the ‘very poor’ category. On Thursday, the capital city recorded an AQI at 331. Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram had also recorded air quality in the ‘very poor’ category on Thursday, according to CPCB data. The air quality in the capital had shown signs of improvement on Monday as it moved from ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ category. However, it dipped to ‘very poor’ again on Wednesday even as firefighting continued at Bhalswa landfill site in north-west Delhi. A Delhi Fire Service (DFS) official said on Friday that a fire tender was stationed at the landfill site as parts of the dump site was still smouldering. Fire had raged at the landfill site on 20 October. However, by Tuesday evening, the flames were somewhat brought under control, DFS officials had said. Meanwhile, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Thursday decided to intensify work on stopping incidents of waste and leaves burning by conducting night patrolling in all its four zones.