Delhi-NCR’s Days of Poor Air Quality Declined By One-Third In Past Four Years, Says Environment Minister

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has hinted that the air pollution in the Delhi-NCR has reduced. The Minister said the number of days with “poor” air quality in the national capital territory has diminished from 300 in 2014 to 206 in 2018, Livemint reports.

“Media reports are always creating a picture that lakhs of people are dying of air pollution but it is not as bad. Yes, pollution is there but efforts are on” the minister says asserting the situation is not as bad as the media organisations have reported in recent times.

“Number of poor air quality days in Delhi in 2016 used to be 246, and in 2014 they used to be around 300, in 2017 it came down to 213 and now it has come down to 206 (in 2018). I am confident that when 2019 figures will come, the number of poor air quality days will further come down,” Javadekar said applauding the success.

The Air Quality Index is measured as good when it is under 50, ‘satisfactory'’ when the AQI is between 50 to 100. AQI between 101 to 200 is ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 is ‘poor’, 301 to 400 is ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 is ‘severe’.