AQI still ‘severe’ in smoggy Delhi, Haryana allows partial school closure

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in most parts of Delhi and its adjoining areas remained in ‘severe’ category on Sunday, November 17, while smoggy conditions also prevailed amid colder winds bringing the temperature in the cities down.
As per the Sameer app, which provides hourly update of the National Air Quality Index published by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall AQI of Delhi stood at 428 – ‘severe’ category – at around 7 am on Sunday.
Of 35 monitoring stations, data shared by the CPCB showed that most reported air quality in the severe category, with AQI levels above 400.
According to CPCB measures, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, 401 and 450 “severe” and above 450 “severe plus”.
At 471, Bawana station recorded the highest AQI, followed by Jahangirpuri, Ashok Vihar, Mundka, Vivek Vihar, Rohini and Anand Vihar – all of which logged air quality over 450.
The air quality in Delhi has been going down since October end and has been worsening since then, with the same attributed to multiple factors such as firecrackers and stubble burning – most common in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
According to the Centre’s Decision Support System for Air Quality Management, vehicular emissions and stubble were the top contributor to Delhi’s pollution on Thursday. Data showed that on Thursday, a total of five farm fires were reported in Punjab, 11 in Haryana, and the highest number, 202, in Uttar Pradesh, according to satellite data shared by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
The Haryana government on Saturday authorised deputy commissioners to temporarily shut physical classes up to Class 5 in schools in their respective districts given the rising pollution levels.
“Letters have been written to all the district deputy commissioners on behalf of the directorate of school education in this regard,” the state government’s department of public relations posted in Hindi on microblogging platform X.
In view of the rising pollution, the Haryana government has given the deputy commissioners the authority to temporarily close schools up to Class 5, giving priority to the health of children, it added.
In the letter, the directorate of school education wrote, “I have been directed to inform you that the government has decided that the concerned deputy commissioners shall assess the prevailing situation (as per the GRAP) in view of the severe AQI levels in Delhi and surrounding regions and may discontinue physical classes and issue necessary directions for holding online classes for upto Class 5th in the schools [government and private] in the interest of the health and safety of the students.”
“The assessment for rural and urban areas of the concerned districts may be carried out separately,” it added.
As the restrictions under the third stage of the anti-pollution Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) came into force on Friday, authorities intensified action against those violating norms with teams of traffic police, transport department and others penalising violators.
On Friday, Delhi Traffic Police issued around 550 challans for violation of a ban on the plying of BS III petrol and BS IV diesel vehicles, imposing fines of over ₹1 crore on the first day of restrictions under the third stage of GRAP.
Violation of this rule invites a penalty of ₹20,000. Diesel and petrol inter-state buses, except for BS VI diesel, from the NCR cities to Delhi are also banned.
The police also cracked down on vehicles not having Pollution Under Control Certificates (PUCC), as it issued fines to 4,855 vehicles totalling ₹4.85 crore on Friday.
A fine of ₹10,000 is imposed on motorists for not having a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate. These challans get released from courts.