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Delhi Fog Orange Alert: Despite the forecast of the Meteorological Department, people went out for walks. Now they are in a different kind of trouble. The fog in Delhi-NCR is so dense that visibility reached zero in many areas. It has had a huge impact on the operation of airplanes and trains. 700 flights at Indira Gandhi Airport have been affected by this. At the same time, Rajdhani, Duronto and other superfast trains are running hours behind schedule. It seems as if nature has imposed a lockdown. People are stranded everywhere.
Delhi Fog Orange Alert: The weather has wreaked havoc in Delhi and surrounding areas. Due to dense fog, operations from planes to trains have been adversely affected. Due to very low visibility at Delhi Airport, more than 700 flights have been affected. The situation became such that 177 flights had to be cancelled. According to Delhi Airport sources, 129 flights (66 arrivals and 63 departures) have also been canceled for Saturday, December 20, 2025. In this way, 306 flights had to be canceled between Friday and Saturday. At the same time, fog has also affected the movement of trains. Dozens of trains are running late by hours. Trains like Patna Tejas Rajdhani, Duronto Express, Sampoorna Kranti Express, Vikramshila Superfast are much behind their scheduled time. Thousands of people are stranded everywhere due to the breakdown of the transport system. There is chaos at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI Airport). The situation is bad due to cancellation and delay of flights. In view of the situation, the Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert.
The twin crisis of dense fog and dangerous air pollution continues in the national capital Delhi. Air traffic was severely affected due to extremely low visibility and the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached near the severe category. The Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert regarding fog for Saturday and warned that the situation will worsen in the coming days. More than 700 flights were affected in Delhi on Friday, while at least 177 flights had to be canceled due to low visibility. These include 88 departure and 89 arrival flights. Two international flights were also among the canceled flights. According to airport officials, due to fog, there are continuous problems in flight operations. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that on Saturday morning there was dense to very dense fog in many areas of Delhi. Light fog or mist is also expected during night time. An IMD official said that there will be moderate fog at many places on Sunday and Monday, while dense fog may be seen in some areas in the morning.
situation continues to worsen
Earlier on Friday the situation had become worse. Visibility was recorded at zero at Safdarjung weather station at 5.30 am, while it had reduced to just 50 meters at Palam. In view of this situation, IMD had to issue a red alert in the morning. Talking about pollution, the 24-hour average AQI of Delhi was recorded at 374, which falls in the very poor category. The AQI rose to 382 in the morning, just below the critical level of 401. The air quality was recorded in the severe category at 11 out of 40 monitoring centers in the city.
Due to dense fog, trains like Patna Tejas Rajdhani, Sampoorna Kranti Express, Vikramshila Superfast are running late by hours. (File photo/PTI)
Strictness in view of pollution
Saturday marked the ninth consecutive day in Delhi when the air quality was recorded in the very poor or severe category. This is the situation when a strict checking campaign against vehicles was intensified a day earlier. Thousands of challans were issued in NCR, due to which private transport was also affected. Despite this, there was not much improvement in pollution. Recently, the Supreme Court had also termed the immediate measures to control pollution as a complete failure. Meteorologists say that the inversion effect becomes stronger due to falling temperature, due to which the pollutants get stuck near the surface. Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director of the Center for Science and Environment, said that the drop in temperature slows down the spread of pollution and makes the air more poisonous.
Who contributes how much to pollution?
According to the data, the contribution of vehicles in pollution on Friday was 15.72 percent. This share is expected to increase to 17.36 percent on Saturday and 18.41 percent on Sunday, while the ban on old vehicles and vehicles without valid PUC continues. So far in December, the air quality has been in the severe category for three days between 13th and 15th. This December is becoming the most polluted December in the last eight years. Whereas in November, Delhi had faced very bad air for 24 days. Meanwhile, Delhi Airport has issued an advisory for passengers. It says low visibility procedures are in place. Passengers have been advised to keep getting latest information from their respective airlines.
