New Delhi: The national capital, Delhi, woke up on Saturday to a thick layer of smog blanketing the city with the average Air Quality Index (AQI) at 380. This falls under the ‘very poor’ category.
Several flights and trains are running behind schedule due to poor visibility.
The Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ category throughout Saturday and is expected to slip into the ‘severe’ category on Sunday and Monday. In view of this, the IMD has issued an ‘orange’ alert for Saturday, as per NDTV.
The AQI at Bhairav Marg near Pragati Maidan was 433 at 7 am. People were seen driving with headlights on.
According to the channel, nearly half of the monitoring stations in Delhi (16 out of 40) reported AQI in the ‘severe’ category at 7 am. Anand Vihar recorded AQI of 428 with particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) as the major pollutant, followed by Jahangirpuri reporting 425 AQI.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi
has issued an advisory, urging passengers to contact airlines for latest flight updates. Low visibility procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport, it said.
“All flight operations are functioning normally. Passengers are advised to contact their respective airlines for the latest flight updates.”
Data from Flightradar24, live flight tracker, shows flight disruptions with several flights running late.
On Friday night, Air India warned passengers of likely disruptions amid dense fog forecast in Delhi and parts of northern and eastern India.
“Flight operations are likely to be affected at Delhi, Amritsar (ATQ), Chandigarh (IXC), Lucknow (LKO), Varanasi (VNS), and Patna (PAT), with a ripple effect across the network,” the airline said.
It asked passengers to check flight status before proceeding to the airport.
“Passengers booked on select flights during the fog window will continue to receive advance alerts under our FogCare initiative, with the option to change flights without additional payment or seek a full refund without penalty,” it added.
Over 30 trains are running behind schedule with an average delay of three to four hours. New Delhi Tejas Rajdhani Express, connecting Bhubaneswar to New Delhi is running nearly eight hours late. Similarly, Champaran Humsafar Express, connecting Katihar Junction in Bihar to Delhi is six hours and 20 minutes late.