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Delhi’s Environment Minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, said on Thursday that the cleanest air quality in Delhi in the past eight years was marked in 2025. 

Regardless of worsening air quality index (AQI) in the past month, Sirsa said the “record number of good AQI days in 2025 proves that science-led action works wonders”.

“Delhiites gave us the mandate to serve, and we made clean air our foremost pledge,” Sirsa said, adding that PM2.5 levels declined from 104 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024 to 96 micrograms per cubic metre in 2025, while PM10 levels fell from 212 to 197 micrograms per cubic metre during the same period.

An official statement also said that for around 200 days in 2025 in the capital city, the AQI remained below 200, which marks an improvement of about 15 per cent compared with the previous four years.

Meanwhile on Thursday, chilly conditions accompanied by light rain rang in the new year in parts of north India. The minimum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 10.6 degrees Celsius, while the maximum was 17.3 degrees Celsius – two degrees below the seasonal normal. 

 

Also Read: Delhi wakes up to fog, ‘very poor’ AQI

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi recorded itss coldest December day in six years on Wednesday as the maximum temperature plunged to 14.2 degrees Celsius, while the last lower maximum temperature was on December 31, 2019, when it dipped to 9.4 degrees Celsius.

Shallow fog was observed across the national capital on Thursday morning, with Palam and Safdarjung recording a visibility of 500 metres at around 7.30 am, according to the IMD. 

From January 3, the IMD predicts colder conditions to develop as minimum temperatures could drop further, with cold northerly winds from the Himalayan region expected to move towards the national capital.

Meanwhile, the air quality remained in the ‘very poor, category, with the city’s overall AQI at 371 at 10 am, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.

CPCB’s SAMEER app showed that 28 stations recorded very poor air quality, while eight stations were in the severe category, with Sonia Vihar recording the worst AQI at 420.