Gurgaon: Rain brought significant relief from pollution in the city on Friday, with the average air quality index (AQI) dropping to 69, in the ‘satisfactory’ category. It was the lowest recorded so far this month. The AQI was 240 (poor) the previous day, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was the lead pollutant.An average of 41mm of rain was recorded till 5pm. Pataudi recorded the highest rainfall in the district at 80mm, followed by Farrukhnagar at 51mm and Sohna at 42mm. Wazirabad received 39mm and Badshapur 38mm, while Kadipur and Harsaru got 26mm each. Manesar recorded the lowest at 18mm.Gurgaon’s maximum temperature was 20 degrees Celsius, 5.5 notches lower than the previous day and the lowest for the day in Haryana. The minimum was 17.2 degrees Celsius, 2.2 degrees above the previous day.Only three of the city’s four air quality monitoring stations were active. At 4pm, they recorded satisfactory to moderate readings: TERI Gram (HSPCB) 47, NISE Gwal Pahari (IITM) 54 and Sector 51 (HSPCB) 105.India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its station-wise observations for the 24 hours ending 8.30am on Friday, recorded 30mm of rainfall each at Gurgaon and Gurgaon revenue station, and 40mm at Gurgaon AWS. It also recorded 80mm at Pataudi, 50mm at Farrukhnagar, 40mm at Sohna and 20mm at Manesar revenue station. Across Haryana, light to moderate rain fell at many places over the past 24 hours, while heavy rain and thunderstorms accompanied by lightning were reported at isolated places.IMD has forecast dry weather across Haryana from Saturday and has issued no further weather warnings until Nov 5.According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the annual average permissible limits for PM2.5 and PM10 are 40 µg/m³ and 60 µg/m³, respectively. Under CPCB guidelines, when the AQI is ‘moderate’, patients with asthma, lung and heart ailments are likely to experience respiratory discomfort. In the ‘poor’ category, most people can experience discomfort on prolonged exposure.
