Gurugram’s AQI slips into ‘very poor’; IMD issues cold wave alert

The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) on Tuesday was logged at 303, up from 240 on Monday and down from 333 on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The air quality in the city deteriorated on Tuesday and entered the “very poor” category after a day of slight improvement. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for cold wave in the city until Thursday.

Gurugram recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius (°C) on Tuesday and a maximum of 14.1°C. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) on Tuesday was logged at 303, up from 240 on Monday and down from 333 on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The city was shrouded in thick haze on Tuesday, reducing the visibility to below 100 metres on several stretches during the early hours, such as Golf Course Road, Delhi-Jaipur and Dwarka expressways.

The restricted visibility observed at 6.30am began to improve slightly above 250 metres at 11am. With the yellow alert, the IMD has warned residents to limit their outdoor activity to avoid prolonged exposure to cold wave.

Officials at IMD said westerly winds at 10km per hour during the early hours continued throughout the day, adding that western disturbance due to a cyclonic circulation over north Pakistan triggered core winds at 12.6km per hour or above.

“Due to possibilities of fog, farmers in the district are advised to irrigate the wheat, mustard and field pea crops at noon time and avoid early morning application of water to the produce,” a senior IMD official said.

As per forecast by IMD, similar dry weather conditions with dense smog at isolated places are likely across the National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday and Thursday, with the winds remaining between 5 to 10km per hour during the day.

Dense fog at isolated places and mercury observed in the district is expected to continue in the region by the end of this week.

Three out of four online air quality monitoring stations recorded “poor” and “very poor” AQI. NISE Gwal Pahari recorded a reading of 263 (poor), Sector 51 saw 357 (very poor), and Vikas Sadan 300 (poor) at 6pm on Tuesday. The station at Teri Gram reported “insufficient data” to compute the average AQI.

Further, Gurugram recorded a minimum temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius (°C) on Tuesday and a maximum of 14.1°C.

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) member secretary Yogesh Kumar had inspected the district air quality monitoring stations installed at Vikas Sadan and Sector 51 on Saturday. Gathering information about the functioning, technical setup, real-time data recording, equipment performance, and maintenance status of both stations, Kumar had directed officials to ensure regular monitoring of air quality data and to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the data.