Delhi Pollution News: AQI Worsens, Flights Affected, Akums Finance Chief Resigns — Check Details
The Delhi Airport informed that "flight operations are currently being conducted under CAT III conditions due to dense fog, which may result in delays or cancellations."
Delhi is in the grip of a severe health emergency as air pollution levels continue to soar. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for very dense fog on Monday.
As of 7:35 a.m., the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at around 460, placing it firmly in the “hazardous” category. Nineteen monitoring stations across Delhi reported hazardous air quality, with Anand Vihar recording the highest AQI. Other stations reported levels ranging from “very poor” to “severe.”
At Delhi airport, the visibility is down to 125 meters. Sharing a passenger advisory on X (formerly Twitter), the Delhi Airport informed that "flight operations are currently being conducted under CAT III conditions due to dense fog, which may result in delays or cancellations."
In an unusual development, Rajkumar Bafna, the finance head of Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, resigned on December 28, citing Delhi’s worsening pollution as the reason, according to an exchange filing.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government is considering a partnership with IIT Kanpur to deploy Artificial Intelligence for pinpointing pollution sources and evaluating their impact.
Officials said the environment department will soon finalize a roadmap for collaboration, institutional mechanisms, and phased implementation. Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa emphasized, “We are moving towards a model where decisions are driven by real-time data, source identification, and measurable outcomes, not reactive measures.”
The proposed initiative aims to enable targeted interventions across sectors by strengthening Delhi’s ability to identify pollution sources at a granular level.
On the enforcement front, the Delhi Transport Department intensified its anti-pollution drive under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) on Friday. Officials reported impounding 28 buses, including interstate vehicles, for violating emission norms.
Enforcement agencies inspected 4,927 vehicles and issued 3,970 challans. Of these, 2,390 were for Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) violations by the Delhi Traffic Police, 285 by transport enforcement teams, and 1,114 through automatic number plate recognition cameras.
