Chandigarh : Prakashotsav Diwali was celebrated with great pomp in the entire country including the states of Haryana and Punjab on Thursday. Like every time, this time too people burst fireworks, after which the Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the poor category at many places in these two states on Saturday. According to Sameer App, which provides hourly updates of the National Air Quality Index, the AQI in Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, also remained in the poor category. There was a slight improvement in air quality in some places including Gurugram, Jind, Ambala and Kurukshetra in Haryana, but it was still recorded in the 'poor' category.
On Friday, the next day of Diwali, AQI was in very poor category at these places in Haryana. At 9 am on Saturday, AQI was recorded at 212 in Gurugram, 285 in Jind, 224 in Ambala and 262 in Kurukshetra. 24 hours before this, i.e. the next day after celebrating Diwali, it was 344, 340, 308 and 304 respectively.
Air quality index was 324 in Sonipat
At other places in Haryana, the air quality index was recorded at 218 in Bahadurgarh, 224 in Bhiwani, 229 in Charkhi Dadri, 224 in Fatehabad, 204 in Hisar, 277 in Karnal, 251 in Sirsa and 243 in Yamunanagar. The air quality index in Sonipat, Haryana was 324, which falls in the 'very poor' category. It is noteworthy that air quality index between zero and 50 is considered 'good', between 51 and 100 is 'satisfactory', between 101 and 200 is 'moderate', between 201 and 300 is 'bad', between 301 and 400 is 'moderate'. An air quality index above 450 is considered 'very poor', 401 to 450 is considered 'severe' and air quality index above 450 is considered 'extremely severe'. After a slight improvement on Saturday, the air quality index in Chandigarh stood at 289 whereas it was 303 on Friday.
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Air health worsened further in Amritsar on Saturday
At the same time, the air quality index in Amritsar, Punjab still remains in the 'very poor' category. It has deteriorated from 314 at 9 am on Friday to 346 on Saturday. However, the AQI in Mandi Gobindgarh improved to 206 in 24 hours whereas it was 331 on Friday. AQI was recorded at 239 in Jalandhar, 206 in Khanna, 291 in Ludhiana and 231 in Patiala. Apart from the fireworks during Diwali, air pollution has also increased due to incidents of stubble burning in these states. A total of 587 cases of stubble burning were recorded in Punjab on Friday, the highest this season.
(with agency input)
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