Delhi has consistently been choking in extremely poor air quality. The seriousness of the condition led chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to announce closure of schools, and also 100 per cent work from home in all government offices for a week.
Several Indian cities, especially in the northern parts of the country, are currently feeling the double whammy of mounting air pollution and the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Delhi has consistently been choking in extremely poor air quality. The seriousness of the condition led chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to announce closure of schools, and also 100 per cent work from home in all government offices for a week.
The capital’s neighbouring state Haryana has also decided to shut all schools in four districts – Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar and Sonipat, till November 17 due to rising pollution levels in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The category in which a city’s AQI lies is recorded by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). According to it, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered to be ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
The central department releases 24-hour data on the AQIs recorded by Indian cities every day.
List of five cities/towns that recorded the best AQIs in the ‘good’ category in the last 24 hours:
1. Coimbatore, Chennai at 18
2. Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh at 19
3. Bagalkot, Karnataka at 23
4. Medikeri, Karnataka at 24
5. Gadag, Karnataka and Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh at 26
List of five cities/towns that recorded the worst AQIs in ‘very poor’ category in the last 24 hours:
1. Narnaul, Haryana at 359
2. Delhi and Kota, Rajasthan at 353
3. Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh at 351
4. Jind, Haryana at 350
5. Udaipur, Rajasthan at 348
