Chandigarh’s air quality deteriorates to ‘very poor’

At 8pm on Friday, Chandigarh’s average AQI for the past 24 hours was recorded at 314 at the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station in Sector 22

A day after Chandigarh celebrated Lohri, the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) crossed the 300 mark at the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station in Sector 22, entering the “very poor” bracket.

Prolonged exposure to “very poor” air conditions can lead to respiratory illness. (HT Photo)

At 8pm on Friday, the average AQI for the past 24 hours was recorded at 314 here. Prolonged exposure to “very poor” air conditions can lead to respiratory illness.

The situation was better at the monitoring station in Sector 22, where it was recorded at 113 (moderate). But it can still cause breathing discomfort among people with lung and heart diseases.

An official at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, “Fog formation and temperature inversion contributed to the rise in AQI. It will improve if it rains or winds start blowing.”

According to IMD, fog will continue for the next few days. While two western disturbances (WD) are expected in the region in the coming days, these are unlikely to bring rain in the city.

In the next three days, the maximum temperature may rise to anywhere between 15°C and 17°C, while the minimum temperature will stay in the same ballpark.

Three flights cancelled, three delayed

Mohali As many as three flights were cancelled and another three were delayed at the Chandigarh International Airport on Friday due to bad weather in the region.

Among the flights cancelled were Go First’s flight to Ahmedabad, scheduled to leave at 10.55am, IndiGo’s Srinagar flight with a 4.05pm departure and Vistara’s Delhi flight that was to leave at 6.50pm.

Besides, Go First’s flight from Srinagar arrived late by 45 minutes. An Indigo flight from Leh landed late after a delay of 1 hour and 28 minutes and a Vistara flight to Bengaluru took off late after a wait of 33 minutes.