India Pollution: Air quality ‘severe’ in parts of Ghaziabad, Gr Noida, ‘very poor’ in Gurgaon, Faridabad

In Ghaziabad, an AQI of 416 was recorded at the station in Loni followed by 374 at Indirapuram, 354 at Sanjay Nagar and 330 at Vasundhara, according to the CPCB data at 8 pm.

In Gautam Buddh Nagar’s Noida, the AQI was 382 at Sector 116 followed by 363 at Sector 62, 356 at Sector 1, while the station at Sector 125 showed insufficient data for the last 24 hours.

In Greater Noida, an AQI of 423 was recorded in Knowledge Park V and 350 at Knowledge Park III, according to the CPCB figures.

In Gurgaon, an AQI of 379 was recorded at the station in Sector 51 followed by 329 at Vikas Sadan and 276 at NISE Gwal Pahari, while there was no sufficient data for Teri Gram, it showed.

In Faridabad, the AQI was recorded at 366 at Sector 16A, 365 at Sector 30, 363 at New Industrial Town and 319 at Sector 11 at 8 pm.

The concentration of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad around 10 am on Sunday was near or upwards of 400 in the severe category, according to the CPCB data.

As a possible health impact, the CPCB states an AQI in the very poor category can lead to respiratory illness on prolonged exposure, while severe affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases.

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 October 15 to check air pollution, which spikes around this time of the year.