On Sunday, several locations in Punjab and Haryana recorded air quality in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ categories, with Karnal being the most affected with an AQI of 316.
As of 9 am, the AQI in Punjab’s Amritsar was noted at 301, while Haryana’s Bahadurgarh and Karnal recorded AQI levels of 313 and 316, respectively, placing them in the ‘very poor’ category. This data, provided by the Sameer app, reflects the national AQI updates from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
In Haryana, various locations reported high AQI levels: Bhiwani at 293, Charkhi Dadri at 280, Faridabad at 238, Fatehabad at 202, Gurugram and Hisar each at 266, Jind at 253, Rohtak at 258, Sonepat at 296, Sirsa at 251, Kurukshetra at 238, Panipat at 187, Yamunanagar at 142, and Ambala at 112. Chandigarh’s AQI stood at 183.
In Punjab, Bathinda registered an AQI of 119, Jalandhar 214, Khanna 171, Ludhiana 153, Patiala 207, Mandi Gobindgarh 184, and Rupnagar 141.
The AQI categories are defined as follows: 0-50 is good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor, 401-450 severe, and above 450 ‘severe plus.’
The poor air quality coincides with an increase in farm fires in Punjab, which recorded 379 incidents on Saturday.
