Motihari, Siwan most polluted cities in country for 2nd day in a row

The bulletin also reveals that these three were the only cities which recorded “severe” AQI among 117 cities of the country where the air pollution was measured.

PATNA Bihar’s Motihari and Siwan emerged as the most polluted cities across the country for the second consecutive day on Saturday.

Traffic policemen check vehicles for pollution in Patna. (HT)

According to the national bulletin issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the air quality index (AQI) of three towns in Bihar, namely Darbhanga, Motihari and Siwan, stood at 404, 419 and 417, respectively.

The bulletin also reveals that these three were the only cities which recorded “severe” AQI among 117 cities of the country where the air pollution was measured. Motihari and Siwan recorded “severe” AQI on Friday as well.

The CPCB classifies an AQI of zero to 50 as ‘good’, 51-100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 as ‘moderate’, 201-300 as ‘poor’, 301-400 as ‘very poor’ and above 401 as ‘severe’.

Bihar’s capital Patna’s AQI slipped to “very poor” with AQI of 306 from previous day’s “poor”.

Apart from this, 10 cities — Araria, Begusarai, Bettiah, Bhagalpur, Bihar Sharif, Chhapra, Katihar, Purnea, Saharsa and Samastipur — recorded “very poor” with AQI ranging between 316 to 395. Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Rajgir, Gaya, Sasaram and Arrah recorded “poor” AQI.

“Favourable meteorological changes such as rise in temperature, change in wind speed or direction could improve the deteriorating air quality. However, the board is preparing a clean air action plan for improving the air quality of the entire state”, he said.