Gurgaon: The city’s air quality worsened on Thursday, with the air quality index (AQI) reaching 240 and placing it in the ‘poor’ category for the second consecutive day. The reading was 37 points higher than Wednesday’s AQI of 203, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s monitoring app.Of the city’s four monitoring stations, three were active on Thursday afternoon, and all recorded poor air quality. Sector 51 registered the highest AQI at 275, followed by NISE Gwalpahari at 231 and TERI Gram at 215. Vikas Sadan was not reporting data at the time.Dr Nidhi Malik, senior associate in the air quality sector at Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), said, “The persistence of pollution underscores the need to identify its sources and assess the effectiveness of preventive and emergency responses. The revised GRAP allows measures to be triggered before projected AQI thresholds are reached, based on meteorological forecasts and expected pollution persistence. Persistent ‘Poor’ air quality alone does not prove that GRAP has failed, just as invoking it alone does not prove success. The priority should be to use air quality forecasts to trigger timely, source-specific interventions and assess their effectiveness using monitoring and emissions data. Emergency measures are necessary, but preventing recurrent pollution episodes requires sustained emission reductions across the Delhi-NCR airshed.”Rain was witnessed in parts of the city on Thursday, accompanying a spell of unsettled weather across Haryana, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds in parts of the state on Friday as well. The IMD’s district-wise weather outlook indicated the possibility of thunderstorms and lightning accompanied by gusty winds of 40 to 50 kmph in parts of Haryana on Friday. The forecast map also flagged the possibility of thunderstorms with gusty winds and hail in some areas.The five-day outlook showed warnings for Oct 29 and 30, with no weather warnings indicated for Haryana on Oct 31, Nov 1 and Nov 2. Gurgaon recorded a minimum temperature of 15.1°C on Thursday, up 3.1°C from the previous 24 hours, according to the IMD’s observed minimum temperature bulletin. The Gurgaon KVK station recorded a minimum of 17.1°C.The IMD recorded 0.5 mm of rainfall at its Gurgaon station in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 am on Thursday.
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