Gurugram: Waste burning, dust make air ‘poor’ for 5th day in a row

GURUGRAM: The city’s air quality continued to deteriorate on Tuesday with an air quality index (AQI ) of 287, remaining in the ‘poor’ category for the fifth consecutive day. It was 241 the day before.
Officials from the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said Gurgaon is likely to witness ‘very poor’ AQI on Wednesday because of local sources like garbage burning, dust from construction activities and roads, and vehicular pollution.
Moreover, the wind speed dipped from 11km/hour on Monday to 8 km/hour on Tuesday, which also played a role in the deterioration of air quality. “We are carrying out patrolling day and night to check violations. All departments are monitoring the situation to ensure that the city witnesses a cracker-free Diwali,” HSPCB regional officer (Gurgaon) Kuldeep Singh said.
Two of the city’s four air monitoring stations — Gwalpahari and Sector 51 — recorded ‘very poor’ AQI on Tuesday, while Vikas Sadan and Teri Gram stations continued to report ‘poor’ AQI.
The minimum temperature of Gurgaon was recorded at 16.5 degree Celsius on Tuesday. With the dip in mercury, pollutants have gathered closer to the ground, which has also contributed to the rise in AQI, experts said. According to the India Meteorological Department, the temperature is likely to fall further in the coming days.