New Delhi

Delhi's air quality deteriorated to hazardous levels on Friday morning, with the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) touching 494 at 7:31 AM, while dense fog and pollution shrouded the national capital, reducing visibility across several areas. Several parts of the city also recorded severe pollution levels.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), among the worst-affected areas, IIT Delhi recorded an AQI of 488, followed by ITO at 455, Anand Vihar at 419, Rohini at 413 and Rajokri Border at 402, all falling in the severe category.

Other areas also reported very poor air quality, with R K Puram recording an AQI of 391, Mandir Marg 378, Dwarka Expressway 369, Uttam Nagar 363 and Lodhi Road 341.

Area around Dhaula Kuan recorded an AQI of 161, placing it in the moderate category, according to CPCB data.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has been undertaking pollution-control measures to minimise the impact of particulate matter, including deploying water sprinklers across the state.

On Thursday, AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj targeted the BJP over the severe rise in pollution levels in Delhi following Diwali celebrations and questioned the credibility of the CPCB readings of the city's AQI data levels, describing this act as a fraud against the 2 crore people of the city.

Speaking to ANI, Saurabh Bharadwaj, citing a CREA report, alleged data manipulation in Delhi pollution levels, claiming that the actual figures were 49 per cent higher than what was officially displayed on government website readings.

"Today, many newspapers completely exposed the Delhi government and the Central Pollution Control Board. CREA showed that the pollution shown for Delhi was 49% higher than what you were told—meaning it was almost one and a half times higher. So, if I put this into AQI terms, the AQI shown as 370 was actually 560, or maybe even higher. Why? Because the data they gave us yesterday when we met the CPCB was ridiculous. The CPCB said that when our pollution level hits 999, we don't even consider that level, because we can't measure above 999 and we don't display 999. So it's just shown as zero.....So this fraud done with pollution wasn't just done with the numbers, but with the health of our kids, our elders, and the two crore people of Delhi," said Bharadwaj.

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Bharadwaj's remarks came after the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CERA), which studied hourly PM 2 5 data from 59 monitoring stations in Delhi and found 255 missing hourly station records between 4 pm on November 8 and 4 pm on November 9, noted a 24-hour average jump from 269 to 400 micrograms per cubic metre, thus recording a rise of nearly 49%.