Met factors help, March air in Gurgaon best in 3 years with 4 ‘satisfactory’ days

GURGAON: The city’s air quality index (AQI) this March was the best in the past three years, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The average daily AQI in March this year was 152 (satisfactory), compared to 204 in 2022 and 213 in 2021, both ‘poor’.
This year, the city recorded five ‘poor’ days in the month, while it saw 18 ‘poor’ days in 2022 and 17 such days in 2021. Moreover, four ‘satisfactory’ air days were witnessed this time, compared to no such day in the month in 2021 and 2022.
Experts attributed this time’s improvement to favourable meteorological conditions like rain and high wind speeds, which created a desirable situation for pollutants to disperse, they said. The city received 64.5mm rain between March 1 and 31 March — a 526% surplus compared to the normal of 10.3mm.
“The region has high dust pollution levels, which went down because of rain,” said Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at Amity Centre for Air Pollution Control.
Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) officials also agreed that the road dust and vehicular emissions are the major contributors to pollution in the city. “We have asked civic bodies to sprinkle water along roads to lower dust. As March received excess rain, the road dust was suppressed naturally, which led to better AQI,” he said.
Meanwhile, the overall AQI was 66 (satisfactory) on Friday. It was 70 at Teri Gram and 61 at Sector 51. The AQI couldn’t be recorded at Gwalpahari and Vikas Sadan due to insufficient data.