GURUGRAM: After six days of ‘poor’ air days, the city’s air quality index (AQI) spiked to ‘very poor’ level on Tuesday. All other NCR cities, including Delhi, also reported ‘very poor’ air. While AQI was recorded at 302 in Gurugram, it was logged at 373 in Delhi, 386 in Noida, 377 in Greater Noida , 396 in Ghaziabad and 380 in Faridabad The highest level of PM 2.5 in Gurugram was recorded at 135 micrograms per cubic metre According to the Met department, a change in the wind direction made air quality worse. “A change of wind direction could be responsible for the deterioration of air quality in the city,” a Met official told TOI.An official of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said the graded response action plan (GRAP) measures for the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ levels would be implemented only if air pollution level remained in the ‘very poor’ category continuously for 48 hours.“Currently, GRAP measures for the ‘poor’ to ‘moderate’ level have been enforced in the city,” he said.Experts and environmental activists blamed the authorities for not implementing GRAP measures properly. “Construction activities are going on unabated in across the city. On Monday and Tuesday, I got a few videos showing immense dust pollution around construction sites, trucks carrying construction materials uncovered. Even construction sites are uncovered, which is against the pollution norms that have been enforced.The situation will worsen in the city as soon as the weather conditions become adverse,” said Niranjan Raje, a former member of Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA).According to the forecast, Wednesday is going to remain misty and equally polluted. “The wind is likely to blow into the city from the northwest direction, but with reduced speed. A cloudy sky, shallow fog in the morning and haze during daytime is expected on Wednesday.“The AQI levels are expected to stay in the very poor level for next 24 hours as the wind speed is expected to go down,” said a forecast by SAFAR.The SAFAR forecast stated that the air quality is expected to remain within the same category for the next two-three days in Delhi also.It added that the impact of stubble burning, too, has gone down considerably — meaning Delhi is only affected by localised factors. On Tuesday, contribution of stubble burning to PM 2.5 was 4%, compared to 5% on Monday. It had fallen to 1% on November 15. CPCB data showed the average PM 2.5 level was 207.1 micrograms per cubic metre at 6pm on Tuesday, while PM 10 was 361.4 micrograms.On Tuesday, the minimum temperature in Gurugram dropped to 13.2°C while the maximum temperature was recorded at 29°C. The average temperature is expected to hover between 28 and 12°C on Wednesday.

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