Many towns in Haryana on Sunday reported air quality in the ‘’severe’’ category even though burning of firecrackers was allowed for only two hours on Diwali.
Gurgaon and Faridabad, which lie to the national capital Region, reported an Air Quality Index (AQI) of over 400. Faridabad recorded an AQI of 414, Gurgaon 425, Hisar 441, Jind 457 and Fatehabad 446. A day earlier, these towns had AQIs of 378, 358, 468, 459 and 471, respectively, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s data.
Rohtak with an AQI of 397, Sirsa 360, Ballabgarh 378, Kaithal 367 and Kurukshetra 372 experienced ‘’very poor’’ air quality. A day earlier, the AQIs in these towns were 422, 418, 330, 377 and 357, respectively.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘’good’’, 51-100 ‘’satisfactory’’, 101-200 ‘’moderate’’, 201-300 ‘’poor’’, 301-400 ‘’very poor’’, and 401-500 ‘’severe’’. An AQI above 500 falls in ‘’severe-plus’’ or ‘’emergency’’ category.