GURUGRAM: For the first time this month, residents on Wednesday woke up to a clear blue sky, a big relief from the past 10 days when a gloomy toxic haze had enveloped the city. For only the third time in 11 days, the air quality index (AQI) dipped to poor levels, at 288, after remaining in the 'severe' category for the last four days.
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After recording two 'very poor' days at the beginning of the month, Gurugram had seen a marginal improvement in its AQI, to 'poor' category, in the next two days. After its first severe day on November 5, the city recorded 'very poor' AQI the following day. Between November 7 and 10, the air again turned 'severe'.
The four air monitoring stations — Vikas Sadan, Gwalpahari, Teri Gram and Sector 51 — showed an improvement in AQI, recording the levels between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’.
The state disaster management authority, meanwhile, directed the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) to prepare a list of cities in Haryana where the AQI is 'moderate' or below and another list of cities where the AQI is poor or above before Diwali as the authority, following an order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has banned sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in 14 districts, including Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Faridabad, Gurugram, Jhajjar, Jind, Karnal, Mahendergarh, Nuh, Palwal, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak and Sonipat.
Among the 22 districts of the state, the authorities have allowed bursting and sale of crackers only in those districts where the AQI is in the moderate level.
A schedule for bursting of crackers has also been set by the authorities. In cities where the air quality is ‘moderate’ or below, it is between 8pm and 10pm on Diwali. For Chhath puja, the timings will be from 6am to 8am. On Christmas and New Year's Eve, fireworks will be allowed from 11.55pm till 12.30am.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and adjoining areas on Wednesday issued an order after a discussion with the pollution boards of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan about the deteriorating air quality in NCR region. It directed Haryana to shut down all hot mix plans and stone crushers till November 17. It also directed Punjab and Haryana to take immediate stringent action to curb stubble burning. It further said that biomass in Delhi and other NCR towns must be strictly checked. “We have implemented GRAP and as directed by CAQM we are taking steps to mitigate dust pollution at construction sites in the city. As the wind movement has picked up in the region, the pollutants have dispersed,” said Shakt Singh, regional officer, HSPCB.