Gurugram air quality better as wind picks up speed

GURUGRAM: The city’s air quality index (AQI) saw an improvement from 390 the day before to 310 on Wednesday, though still ‘very poor’. Experts attributed this to a rise in wind speed.
At present, it is 10 kmph, compared to 3kmph on Tuesday, which helped pollutants disperse in the atmosphere. “The predominant surface wind is likely to be coming from the southeast in Delhi-NCR with speeds ranging from 8kmph to 15kmph. The region will have mainly clear skies from Thursday onwards for the next three days. As a result, the air quality has improved and is likely to improve further,” said Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at Amity Centre for Air Pollution Control.
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On Wednesday, Teri Gram (372) and Sector 51 (301) reported ‘very poor’ AQI, while it was ‘poor’ at Gwalpahari (279) and Vikas Sadan (285).
“The meteorological conditions have been favourable for pollutants to disperse at present. Our teams are carrying out pollution mitigation measures,” said Sandeep Singh, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) regional officer for Gurugram.
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’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’. According to guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, when AQI is in the ‘moderate’ category, there can be breathing discomfort to the people with asthma and lung or heart disease.
The GRAP for NCR has now been classified under four different stages of adverse air quality in Delhi, reflected through the AQI. While stage 1 is implemented when the AQI is ‘poor’ (AQI 201-300), stage 2 when it is ‘very poor’ (AQI 301-400), stage 3 when the air is ‘severe’ (AQI 401-450) and stage 4 when it is ‘severe+’ (AQI >450).