At AQI 320, Ballabhgarh’s air worst for 7th straight day
Faridabad, December 20
The air quality of Ballabhgarh, the sub-divisional town of the district, remained the worst in the state and NCR on Wednesday. According to the data collected by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), it was the seventh consecutive day that Ballabhgarh’s AQI was recorded between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.
The AQI reading of the recorded PM 2.5 (particulate matter of 2.5 micrograms that hangs in one cubic sq metre) was recorded at 318 this morning. It went up to 320 at 5 pm, suggesting that the air quality failed to improve despite wind movement in the past few days. This has been the highest level recorded in the entire NCR and Haryana, it is reported.
The AQI of Ballabhgarh which shot up to 344 on December 15, has continued to hang around 300 or more for the past six days, making it a hotspot of pollution. According to Sameer, the official app of the CPCB, it was better in the corresponding period last year when the maximum level was 285.
While factors such as construction works, vehicular pollution and burning of waste in the open could be blamed for the poor AQI in the region, Ballabhgarh is also one of the densely populated parts of the city contributing to the poor air quality, an official on the condition of anonymity said. He said poor sanitation conditions, dumping of garbage in the open and failure of the civic body to sprinkle water on the roads has also added to the problem. As the norms under the GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan) Phase-II allow construction works, monitoring gets relaxed.
Meanwhile, cities like Bahadurgarh, Rohtak, Panipat, Sonepat, Bhiwani, Hisar, Jind, Narnaul, Kaithal , Karnal, Fatehabad and Kurukshetra recorded an AQI level between 105 and 260 in the past 12 hours.
“The ongoing civil construction work at various spots vehicular pollution may have led to poor AQI in the region,” Akanksha Tanwar, an official of the State Pollution Control Board, said.
