The air quality of Faridabad, Charkhi Dadri, Panipat, Kurukshetra, and Jind was worse than the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi on Tuesday, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
While AQI between 0 to 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 is satisfactory, 101 to 200 moderate, 201 to 300 poor, 301 to 400 very poor and 401 to 500 severe, as per the CPCB norms.
On Tuesday evening, the AQI of five cities-- Faridabad, Charkhi Dadari, Panipat, Kurukshetra, and Jind-- crossed 300 points and the air quality was put in the category of “Very Poor.” On the other hand, the average AQI of Delhi was 300 points.
However, the CPCB data says, the AQI of certain parts of Delhi such as Rohini, Narela, Dwarka, Kirti Nagar, Wazirpur, and Lajpat Nagar was also categorised as “very poor” with the AQI of these areas going past 300 points.
The quality of air in other Haryana cities like Karnal, Kaithal, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Sonepat, Gurugram, Bahadurgarh and Manesar was described as “poor” on Tuesday after the AQI crossed 200 points.
According to S Narayanan, member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the air quality report of Monday was also poor.
“The AQI is going towards poor levels. In Karnal and Kurukshetra, stubble burning seems one of the key reasons, but in Gurugram and Faridabad, there are local factors responsible for the pollution,” Narayanan said, assuring that the state government was taking all necessary steps to improve AQI.
The air quality of cities falling under districts, such as Bhiwani and Rohtak, having very small areas under paddy cultivation, was better than the areas under paddy cultivation, clearly pointing that stubble burning was the main cause of pollution here.
The analysis of the data points towards a steady surge in farm fires, affecting the quality of air in Haryana cities, especially those under paddy belts of the state.
Until Monday evening, 158 new incidents of Active Fire Locations were detected by the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) in the state, increasing the total number of farm fires to 1,264 since September 25 when the monitoring began.
According to HSPCB data, the per-day average of active fire locations has increased to over 150. Kurukshetra district topped the chart with 260 incidents, followed by Karnal (238), Ambala (172) Kaithal (170), Fatehabad (102), Yamunanagar (92), Jind (90), Sonepat (42), Hisar (41), Sirsa (17) Palwal (16), Panipat (15) and Panchkula 11 till October 12.
Apart from farm fires, industrial pollution too is adding to the problem in Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonipat, Karnal, Panipat, and Yamunanagar.
