Despite marginal downslide, Faridabad leads in poor AQI

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, October 30

Maintaining the lead in bad air quality, Faridabad continues to be in top slot with an air quality index (AQI) of 383 this evening. This is the second consecutive day when the city has registered the poorest air after the Diwali festival.

AQI level

• Faridabad 383
• Delhi 353
• Ghaziabad 346
• G Noida 342
• Gurugram 326
• Noida 324

The average particulate matter of 2.5 level that hangs in one cubic cm area was recorded at 383 by the four AQI stations in the city at 5.10 pm today. It is 17 points lower in comparison to the AQI recorded yesterday according to ‘Sameer’, an official App of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The air quality is poor due to thick layer of smog hanging in the atmosphere.

The four stations in the city recorded an AQI between 346 and 436. It was highest in the NIT zone. In the NCR, Delhi with AQI of 353 and Ghaziabad with 346 were placed at second and third positions. Greater Noida and Noida recorded an AQI of 342 and 324, respectively. In Gurugram the AQI was 326 today evening.

A total of 17 cities across the country registered an AQI between 300 and 366. Eight cities in Haryana, including Bahadurgarh, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Hisar, Kaithal and Manesar recorded an AQI between 310 and 355 today.

In rest of the country, Begusarai and Motihari in Bihar, Baghpat and Kanpur in UP and Gwalior in MP had an AQI between 307 and 366.

As the safe level of the AQI is 50, the present conditions may result in irritation of eyes, nose, and throat, shortness of breath, aggravate asthma and other respiratory problems. “Breathing polluted air for a long period can cause serious health-related problems,’’ says Dr Tarun Kashyap, a physician.

Meanwhile, the district authorities have announced the implementation of the stage-three of the graded response action plan (GRAP) as per the notification of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to deal with severe air quality. According to the order authorities have to ensure only mechanised (vacuum) sweeping, water sprinkling on dust spots, ban on non-essential construction and demolition, ban on industrial units not running on authorised standard fuels, closure of brick kilns, hot mix plants, mining and promotion of public transport.

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