Gurgaon: City’s air turned poor on Wednesday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) rising to 203, after staying moderate for four consecutive days following a brief improvement in the middle of Oct.According to Haryana State Pollution Control Board’s monitoring dashboard, the AQI rose from 134 on Oct 25 to 156 on Oct 26 and 174 on Oct 27, before crossing the 200 mark on Wednesday.The deterioration comes after a relatively cleaner spell in mid-Oct. The city’s AQI improved to 89 on Oct 16, the lowest reading recorded on the dashboard during the month. It subsequently rose to 159 on Oct 18 and 184 on Oct 20, before touching 216 on Oct 21. The reading eased to 193 on Oct 22 but deteriorated again to 215 on Oct 23.Oct’s readings show repeated fluctuations in air quality. The AQI stood at 182 on Oct 1 and rose to 207 on Oct 2. It crossed 200 again on Oct 9, at 201, and on Oct 21 and 23, at 216 and 215 respectively.Data from the city’s four active monitoring stations showed that pollution levels varied across locations on Wednesday. TERI Gram recorded the highest AQI at 265, followed by NISE Gwalpahari at 242. Sector 51 reported an AQI of 172, while Vikas Sadan recorded 144.The monitoring dashboard classified the citywide AQI of 206 as poor and warned that prolonged exposure could cause breathing discomfort to most people.The latest figures indicate that the improvement seen in mid-Oct has not lasted, with pollution levels rising again towards the end of the month. The monitoring data does not, however, establish the specific sources responsible for the deterioration.As per guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, ‘moderate’ AQI can cause breathing discomfort to people with asthma and lung or heart disease, while ‘poor’ air quality can lead to breathing discomfort for most people on prolonged exposure. CPCB categorises AQI levels between 0 and 50 as ‘good’, 51 to 100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 as ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 as ‘poor’, 301 to 400 as ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 as ‘severe’.
