Delhi Environment Min convenes meeting amid Delhi's worsening air quality

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai has called a meeting of the officials of his department and the city's pollution control board on Thursday, as the national capital recorded close to 'severe' level air quality index (AQI).

The meeting is slated to take place at 1 pm on Thursday, an official said on Wednesday.

"The meeting of the environment department and Delhi Pollution Control Committee, to be chaired by Delhi Minister Gopal Rai, has been convened to discuss the situation as the AQI level has deteriorated," he said.

The air quality index (AQI) in the national capital was close to the 'severe' level on an overcast Wednesday morning while the minimum temperature settled at 25.4 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season's average.

Central Pollution Control Board data showed Delhi's AQI at 395 ('very poor') at 9 am, just five notches short of touching the 'severe' level. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 30