{"id":448079,"date":"2025-12-15T06:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T06:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/448079\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T06:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T06:27:14","slug":"delhi-chokes-on-toxic-smog-air-quality-panel-flags-recurring-negligence-high-dust-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/448079\/","title":{"rendered":"Delhi chokes on toxic smog; air quality panel flags \u2018recurring negligence\u2019, high dust levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Treading<\/p>\n

Treading with caution:\u00a0<\/b>Bikers navigating a road amid poor visibility in Delhi on Sunday, December 14, 2025, morning.
\n | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma\n <\/p>\n

The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) on Sunday (December 14, 2025) pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over \u201cevident gaps\u201d and \u201crecurring negligence\u201d in the upkeep of roads in the city.<\/p>\n

It said flying squads inspected 136 road stretches maintained by the DDA. Out of them, 15 showed high levels of visible dust, 38 recorded moderate dust levels, 61 had low dust intensity, and 22 were found to have no visible dust.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The squads also found accumulation of municipal solid waste (MSW) on 55 stretches, construction and demolition waste on 53 stretches, and open burning of MSW or biomass on six stretches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dust pollution is one of the major sources of air pollution in Delhi.<\/p>\n

The CAQM stated that these \u201cobservations clearly indicate evident gaps and recurring negligence in the upkeep of the stretches concerned\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added that the DDA needs to enhance its \u201coperational efficiency\u201d and take prompt corrective measures through \u201cconsistent and timely dust mitigation interventions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe agency also needs to deliver improved compliance across all road stretches for MSW\/biomass burning,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n

AQI hits 461<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, air quality in the national capital on Sunday (December 14) deteriorated with a 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of 461 at 4 p.m., the highest value recorded this season, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).<\/p>\n

It worsened further from the 431 (\u2018severe\u2019) recorded a day earlier and is likely to improve slightly to the \u2018very poor\u2019 category on Monday, the CPCB\u2019s daily official bulletin stated.<\/p>\n

AQI in the range of 51-100 is termed \u2018satisfactory\u2019, 101-200 is deemed \u2018moderate\u2019, 201-300 \u2018poor\u2019, 301-400 \u2018very poor\u2019, 401-450 \u2018severe\u2019, and 451-500 \u2018severe plus\u2019, according to the CAQM.<\/p>\n

Air quality in several other cities of north India, including Bahadurgarh in Haryana, and Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, were in the \u2018severe plus\u2019 category. Baghpat and Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh recorded air quality in the \u2018severe\u2019 category.<\/p>\n

\u201cAir quality is likely to be in the \u2018very poor\u2019 category from Monday to Wednesday and the subsequent six days,\u201d the Centre\u2019s Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi stated.<\/p>\n

Published – December 15, 2025 02:06 am IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Treading with caution:\u00a0Bikers navigating a road amid poor visibility in Delhi on Sunday, December 14, 2025, morning. |…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":448080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[178667,159589,206041,206042,206040,746,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-448079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-delhi-air-pollution","9":"tag-delhi-air-quality","10":"tag-delhi-dust-level","11":"tag-delhi-pollution-curbs","12":"tag-delhi-toxic-smog","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115722168101322754","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}