AQI turns 'severe' in some places in Haryana, 'poor' in parts of Punjab

Many parts in Haryana on Friday reported air quality indices in the "severe" category while it was "poor" in parts of neighbouring Punjab.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board data on Friday evening, Faridabad recorded an air quality index (AQI) of 460, followed by Hisar at 456, Sonipat at 455, Jind at 447, Fatehabad at 432, Rohtak at 424, Bahadurgarh at 404, Ballabhgarh at 398, Gurugram at 367, Palwal at 339, Bhiwani at 313, Kurukshetra at 321, Karnal at 312 and Ambala at 218.

In Punjab, Bathinda reported AQI at 338, while Mandi Gobindgarh's AQI was 277, Amritsar 248, Khanna 249, Jalandhar 268 and Ludhiana 228.

Punjab on Friday reported 1,551 farm fires taking the total number of such incidents during the current harvesting season to 12,813.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, saw an AQI of 189.

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", and 401 and 500 "severe".

Meanwhile, Punjab has reported a total of 12,813 stubble burning incidents till Friday, according to Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre data.

Punjab had reported 1,921 stubble burning incidents on Wednesday, according to the data.

Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is considered one of the major reasons behind the alarming spike in air pollution levels in the national capital in October and November.

As the window for wheat -- a key rabi crop -- is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear off the crop residue for sowing of the next crop.