Several districts in Haryana on Thursday reported air quality in the ''severe'' and ''very poor'' categories, far worse than many towns in Punjab.
Even though the number of stubble-burning incidents have dropped in the two agrarian states over the past few days, the air quality in many places has remained extremely poor.
Haryana''s Palwal, Faridabad, Hisar, Fatehabad, Gurgaon, Jind and Bhiwani reported the worst air quality as their air quality index (AQI) stood at 461, 441, 425, 413, 414, 410 and 406, as per data provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Among other Haryana districts, Rohtak (387), Sirsa (385), Bahadurgarh (372), reported air quality in the ''very poor'' bracket, as per CPCB data.
The neighbouring Punjab witnessed air quality in ''very poor'' and ''poor'' categories. Bathinda''s AQI was 329, followed by Amritsar (329), Patiala (261), Jalandhar (230) and Ludhiana (237), CPCB data said.
AQI in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of the two states, was recorded at 210, which is considered ''poor''.
An AQI between 0-50 is considered ''good'', 51-100 ''satisfactory'', 101-200 ''moderate'', 201-300 ''poor'', 301-400 ''very poor'', and 401-500 ''severe''. Above 500 is ''severe-plus or emergency'' category.
Chandigarh Meteorological (MeT) Department Director Surinder Paul had earlier said that because of the development of high pressure area in the region and absence of vertical movement of air, winds have become static, causing hazy weather condition.
"This weather condition is likely to improve after November 15," he said.
The number of incidents of farm fire, considered a major reason for pollution in the state and neighbouring areas, including Delhi, dropped significantly in Punjab and Haryana.
In all, the total farm fire incidents between September 23 and November 13 this year in Punjab were 48,689 as against 42,308 and 44,845 in corresponding period of 2017 and 2018, officials said.
Haryana has reported a total of over 6,000 incidents of farm fires in this season so far.
