Air quality in 10 Haryana cities turns ‘very poor’

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the quality of air in Bahadurgarh, Ballabgarh, Charkhi Dadri, Dharuhera, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Kurukshetra, and Panipat was recorded as ‘very poor’.

The air quality index (AQI) in 10 cities of Haryana on Friday plunged to ‘very poor’ category.

Commuters drive under smog conditions in Sonepat on Friday. (AFP)

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the quality of air in Bahadurgarh, Ballabgarh, Charkhi Dadri, Dharuhera, Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Kurukshetra, and Panipat was recorded as ‘very poor’.

The AQI between 0 to 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 satisfactory, 101 to 200 moderate, 201 to 300 poor, 301 to 400 very poor and 401 to 500 severe.

The AQI in Panchkula and Chandigarh was ‘satisfactory’. In 11 other cities of the state, the AQI was ‘poor’ in last 24 hours. These cities are Ambala, Bhiwani, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Manesar, Palwal, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonepat and Yamunanagar. The AQI in Ambala was 286, Jind 294, Kaithal 290, Karnal 270 and Rohtak 277.

Delhi’s AQI was also recorded as “very poor” at 366.

The CPCB collects the air pollution data of last 24 hours until 4:00pm everyday from its monitoring stations in each city. In Delhi alone, the CPCB has 36 monitoring stations and in most other cities there is just one such station. In Haryana, the CPCB has monitoring stations in 22 cities, including four each in Gurugram and Faridabad.

Officials say farm fires are one of the key reasons behind deterioration of air quality in Haryana cities. Till Thursday evening, 168 new incidences of Active Fire Locations were detected by Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) in the state, taking the total number of farm fires to 3,470 since September 25 when the monitoring began. As per the data, Karnal district topped the chart with 700 farm fires, followed by Kurukshetra 632, Kaithal 596, Ambala 428 and Fatehabad 265.