Indian chess grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi took a dig at the Delhi administration, posting a screenshot of the Air Quality Index in the city early on Saturday morning, the levels of which had reached hazardous,
as he asked if no one cares about the deteriorating health conditions in the city.
Delhi woke up to dense fog, low visibility and biting cold on Saturday, January 17, with the India Meteorological Department issuing a yellow alert for a cold wave and thick fog.
On Saturday, Delhi’s minimum temperature is expected to hover around normal, while the maximum could be 1.6 to 3°C above average. Meanwhile, neighbouring states, including Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are under an IMD orange alert for dense fog, cold day and cold wave conditions.
“We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares? Shouldn’t solving this be the top priority?” Gujrathi tweeted on Saturday morning.
We are slowly being poisoned and no one cares?
Shouldn’t solving this be the top priority ? pic.twitter.com/1qyZvPFLFq— Vidit Gujrathi (@viditchess) January 17, 2026
Notably, Gujrathi’s comments come just two days after Danish shuttler Anders Antonsen said that he didn’t participate in the ongoing India Open in Delhi because of the pollution, adding that the city is not fit to host a badminton tournament.
Meanwhile, dense fog enveloped the national capital on Saturday morning, limiting visibility, while the minimum temperature dropped to 4.4°C, 3.2 degrees below the season’s average.
The India Meteorological Department said that the maximum temperature is expected to touch 22 degrees Celsius.
Relative humidity was recorded at 100% at 9 am.
At 9 am on Saturday, January 17, Delhi’s air quality was rated ‘very poor,’ with an Air Quality Index of 376, as per Central Pollution Control Board data.
As per the CPCB, an AQI of 0-50 is classified as ‘good’, 51-100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 as ‘moderate’, 201-300 as ‘poor’, 301-400 as ‘very poor’ and 401-500 as ‘severe’.
