Northern India encountered the recurring annual pre-winter event of air emergency where the Air Quality Index (AQI) readings of main pollutant PM 2.5 breached the 400-mark of “very poor” and landed the air of Delhi, Punjab and other northern cities into the “hazardous” category.

On Thursday morning, Delhi's air quality hit severe levels, with AQI readings reaching as high as 473 in some areas. Despite the hazardous level, the CAQM opted to monitor conditions further before implementing Stage 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

Residents of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and nearby areas awoke to a thick layer of smog on Wednesday, which brought visibility down to near-zero levels. The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi stayed in the ‘very poor’ range,