GURUGRAM: The city had witnessed the air quality in the ‘moderate’ category after nearly a month on Wednesday, but it again dipped to ‘poor’ on Thursday when the air quality index (AQI) was 253.
AQI was in the ‘poor’ category in two out of four air monitoring stations in the city on Thursday. In Gwalpahari and Teri Gram, the AQI was recorded at 260 and 250 respectively. At Vikas Sadan, AQI was recorded in the ‘very poor’ category’ at 311. Only Sector-51 was in the ‘moderate’ range of 191.
According to experts, city’s minimum temperature was recorded at 10 degrees Celsius on Thursday. According to IMD, the temperature is likely to fall further by this weekend. By Sunday, the minimum temperature will fall to nine degrees Celsius, IMD officials said.
The MCG and pollution watchdog said that they are working together on the action plan to mitigate air pollution. An MCG official said they have banned all construction activities.
“Our teams have been reporting nearly 25 incidents of open burning of waste in the city every day. This is a serious issue and we have informed MCG regarding the same. Teams are already taking action, however, in several incidents when our team reaches the site we fail to find any miscreants and thus we are not being able to impose any penalty,” said a senior HSPCB official.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s air quality remained in the “poor” category with an AQI of 283. System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) said 967 fire counts were observed after a dip during Diwali. The share of stubble burning in the capital’s PM2.5 was 20%.
“Wind speed is favourable for transport of stubble fire smoke. AQI is set to deteriorate and forecast to be in the very poor range for Friday. However, it will marginally improve to lower end of the very poor category on November 21 and 22,” stated SAFAR
The lowest minimum temperature of this season was recorded at 9.4° Celsius, three notches below normal, on Thursday. The maximum temperature was 25.6° C, two notches below normal. Before this, the lowest minimum temperature in the capital was recorded at 10° Celsius on November 3. The normal average minimum temperature for November is 12.9 degrees.