Noida: The air quality at various places in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, and Faridabad remained “very poor” on Saturday, according to a government agency.
There was a heavy concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollutants in the air of the four immediate neighboring districts of Delhi, according to the air quality index (AQI) maintained by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
According to the index, 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‘.
Gautam Buddh Nagar’s Greater Noida city had the worst AQI of 364 as recorded by the station in Knowledge Park V, while it was 299 in Knowledge Park III, according to the CPCB data at 7 pm.
In Noida, the AQI was measured at 325 by the station in Sector 62, 312 at Sector 116, and 287 at Sector 1. No data was available for the station in Sector 125, it showed.
In adjoining Ghaziabad, the AQI was 306 at Indirapuram, 311 at Loni, 261 each at Sanjay Nagar and Vasundhara.
Gurgaon had an AQI of 345 as recorded by the station in Sector 151 followed by 288 at the Teri Gram, 284 at Vikas Sadan, and 191 at NISE Gwal Pahari, the CPCB showed.
The AQI in Faridabad also largely remained in the very poor category.
It was recorded at 320 at the station in Sector 11 followed by 311 at New Industrial Town and 295 at Sector 16A. The data from the sector 30 station was insufficient for the last 24 hours, the agency stated.
The worsening of the air quality comes even as the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) has been implemented in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) from Friday.
Among the GRAP’s measures for checking air pollution are increasing bus and metro services, hiking parking fees, stopping the use of diesel generator sets, checking dust on roads, and at construction sites when the air quality turns poor.