After Diwali, several parts of Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday morning recorded air quality in the 'poor' and 'very poor' categories. Gurugram in Haryana and Ludhiana in Punjab reported their respective air quality index (AQI) at 313 and 269 at 10:10 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) data.
Among other districts, Faridabad, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, Ambala, Bahadurgarh, Sonipat, Jind, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, and Panipat reported their AQI at 311, 301, 291, 241, 279, 214, 296, 211, 276 and 192 respectively. In Punjab, Amritsar, Mandi Gobindgarh, Patiala, Jalandhar and Khanna the AQI was recorded at 249, 208, 225, 260 and 212 respectively -- all in the 'poor' category.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'. The AQI in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, was recorded at 178.
The Punjab government had allowed a window of two hours from 8 pm till 10 pm for bursting firecrackers on Diwali while the Haryana government had allowed only green crackers in the state. Farm fires also continued at many places in Punjab and Haryana.
Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November. As the window for Rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest, farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue.
(With PTI inputs)
