STORY: Students of Sadhu Vaswani International School for Girls, some wearing face masks, walked through the school gate under the watchful eye of their parents as a dense fog shrouded the Indian capital city.

The air quality reading of 141 on Thursday put it under the "very poor" category, said the federal government's System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research.

"I'm very much worried because the pollution levels have gone up really bad and it's just that we are helpless because even the Delhi government is not taking any actions. They are not doing enough," one parent said.

Meanwhile, dense fog and a cold wave in northern Chandigarh and Gorakhpur cities caused problems to residents who faced challenges with commuting due to low visibility.