Chandigarh: The air quality in many parts of Punjab and Haryana was recorded in the ‘poor’ category while it was ‘very poor’ in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

Punjab witnessed 83 fresh farm fires, taking the total count to 7,112, data showed.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana , was recorded at 349 at 9 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s Sameer app, which provides hourly updates.

In Punjab, Mandi Gobindgarh recorded an AQI of 269, Patiala 245, Ludhiana 233, Jalandhar 212 and Rupnagar 200.

In Haryana, the AQI was 291 in Kaithal, 272 in Jind, 267 in Panchkula, 240 in Sonipat, 236 in Bahadurgarh, 217 in Kurukshetra, 205 in Gurugram and 202 in Yamunanagar.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, 401 and 450 ‘severe’ and above 450 ‘severe plus’.

Of the fresh stubble burning incidents reported in Punjab on Tuesday, 22 were reported in Muktsar, 14 in Bathinda and nine in Patiala, according to Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after harvesting the paddy crop in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution in Delhi.

As the window for sowing the Rabi crop, wheat, is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue. 

 

(Except the headline, this story is not edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed)