Delhi’s air quality hovered near the ‘severe’ mark on Sunday morning but showed marginal improvement through the day, prompting the city’s pollution control body to hold off on invoking tougher anti-pollution measures under Stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the capital’s average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 391 in the morning — at the upper end of the ‘very poor’ category — and improved slightly to 370 by 4 pm and 365 by 5 pm. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) said the city’s air quality is likely to remain in the ‘very poor’ range over the next few days.

The committee said that given that Delhi’s daily average AQI has shown a consistent declining trend and forecasts indicate it will stay in th

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