GURUGRAM: The city’s air quality improved on Monday to become ‘poor’, providing a relief from high levels of pollution over the past week. However, Gurugram remained the most polluted city in the National Capital Region.
In the day, the air quality index (
AQI) read 283 (poor) in the city, 171 (moderate) in Delhi, 166 (moderate) in Noida, 115 (moderate) in
Faridabad and 182 (moderate) in Ghaziabad.
Similarly, the highest concentration of PM2.5 was at 148µg/m³ (poor) on Monday, recording a 42% drop from 256µg/m³ (very poor) on Sunday. Last Thursday was the most polluted day since November 2017.
Met officials claimed local winds had helped disperse the particulate matter in the Delhi-NCR region. They also said that thunderstorm, along with light showers, was likely on Tuesday evening, which might provide further respite from the
air pollution. “Thanks to local winds, the NCR region got some respite from pollution and heat. Light showers are expected on Tuesday evening, which might decrease the pollution and heat further,” said a Met official.
But, environmentalists claimed local winds, in fact, led to a rise in dust in the atmosphere in Gurugram, and thus didn’t let the air quality improve in the city. “Generally, local winds are known to disperse particulate matter. Unfortunately, this is not true in Gurugram. Local winds lead to an increase in pollution levels as dust is lying everywhere. All construction companies, including government agencies, flout pollution and construction norms,” said Niranjan Raje, a former member of the Environment Protection Control Authority.
Representative photo