Air quality ‘poor’ in large parts of Punjab, Haryana; Chandigarh ‘very poor’ | India News – Times of India

CHANDIGARH: Air quality in several parts of Punjab and Haryana was recorded in the ‘poor’ category on Saturday, while it was worst in the joint capital Chandigarh with an AQI of 322, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category. According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app, which provides hourly updates, Bahadugarh in Haryana recorded an air quality index of 314 at 9 am – also in the ‘very poor’ category.
Among others in Haryana, the AQI in Sonipat was 290, Hisar (285), Bhiwani (277), Jind (275), Charkhi Dadri (258), Gurugram (259), Faridabad (220), Yamunanagar (213), Rohtak (238 ), Kurukshetra (202), Kaithal (205), Fatehabad (198), Ambala (160), Sirsa (181) and Karnal (144).
In Punjab, the AQI was recorded at 264 in Mandi Gobindgarh, 258 in Amritsar, 257 in Rupnagar, 248 in Jalandhar, 197 in Ludhiana, 183 in Bathinda, 176 in Khanna and 133 in Patiala.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’ and above 450 ‘serious plus’.
The rise in air pollution in the two states and Delhi at this time of the year is often attributed to farm fires.
Punjab reported 730 incidents of farm fires on Friday, taking the total number in the state to 6,029 this season.
Since the period for the Rabi crop – wheat – is very short after the rice harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residues before sowing the next crop.