Air quality in Punjab, Haryana remains poor due to stubble burning

Chandigarh: The air quality in many parts of Punjab and Haryana was poor on Sunday, while it was very poor in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh, which is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded an Air Quality Index of 342 at 10 am, according to the Central Pollution Control Board's Sameer App, which provides hourly updates.

Among other places in Haryana, the AQI at Kaithal was 284, Charkhi Ddari (280), Bahadurgarh (278), Panchkula (270), Gurugram (240), Yamunanagar (231), Kurukshetra (221), Rohtak (202), Sonipat (202), Bhiwani (198), Rohtak (195), Panipat (184) and Ambala (148).

In Punjab, the AQI was registered at 268 in Mandi Gobindgarh, 246 in Amritsar, 220 in Ludhiana, 206 in Patiala, 202 in Rupnagar, 196 in Jalandhar, 175 in Bathinda and 163 in Khanna.

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'.

Notably, Punjab had seen 237 farm fires on Saturday, taking the total count to 6,266 in the state.

Punjab has witnessed over 70 percent dip in farm fires during September 15 and November 9 as compared to corresponding period last year.

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

As the window for the Rabi crop -- wheat -- 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.