‘Very poor’ Gurugram air least polluted among Delhi-NCR

On Sunday, PM2.5 in Gurugram was 96ug/m3, according to Central Pollution Control Board data. However, the daily average measure remained alarming, at 328ug/m3.

Despite being in the very poor zone, air in Gurugram was least polluted in the National Capital Region for the fourth day in a row on Sunday. Gurugram had an Air Quality Index of 340 on Sunday, down from 363 on Saturday, , despite falling temperatures and low wind speeds. Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida all had ‘severe’ air with AQI values above the 400 mark.

Commuters on their way through heavy dust which connects National Highway 248A to Teekli at sector 68, near Badshahpur, in Gurugram, on Sunday, November 11, 2018. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The concentration of PM2.5 in the city air has also reduced considerably since touching its highest ever reading on November 8. On Sunday, PM2.5 in Gurugram was 96ug/m3, according to Central Pollution Control Board data. However, the daily average measure remained alarming, at 328ug/m3 (more than five times the safe limit of 60ug/m3).

Kuldeep Singh, regional officer, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, attributed the fall in the concentration of ultrafine particles in the city air to direction of prevailing winds. “The pollutants are there, it’s just that at the moment they are being carried away from the city, towards the capital,” he said. While the wind speeds are certainly on the lower side, they are making incremental differences each day because of their eastward movement, Singh explained.

An air quality expert, Sachin Panwar, concurred with Singh’s explanation. “Air speed in Gurugram these days, while low, is just slightly more than it is in Delhi,” he said. Moreover, given that the winds are currently blowing eastward, cities lying east of Gurugram, such as Faridabad, Baghpat and Hapur, are all experiencing ‘severe’ air due to translocation of pollutants from Punjab and Haryana. Satellite images by NASA, dated November 11, also show a thick haze hanging over these cities, which is not present over Gurugram.

However, an official from India Meteorological Department said the situation is precarious, and is expected to change in the next week. “Winds are blowing eastward, but will soon change directions. When that happens, we will observe a reversal in this phenomena, and air pollution in Gurugram will escalate rapidly,” the official said.