LUCKNOW: The air that you breathed in on Tuesday was more toxic as compared to Monday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Lucknow was 396, just four units below the ‘severe’ category.The AQI was also 20 units more than the value recorded on Monday, as per the data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Lucknow was the third most polluted city in the country after Talcher in Odisha and Agra (UP), which had of AQI of 414 and 404, respectively.Among the 12 UP cities which had ‘very poor’ air on Tuesday, Lucknow had the highest AQI and thus was the second most polluted city on the state. Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Muzaffarnagar and Kanpur were other cities in ‘very poor’ category.Lucknow was more polluted than the national capital Delhi where AQI was 352.As per the live air monitoring conducted by CPCB at four locations — Lalbagh, Aliganj, Talkatora and Nishatganj, the most polluted area was Lalbagh with PM2.5 concentration recorded at 386.6 micrograms per unit of air. It was followed by Aliganj, Talkatora and Nishatganj. The concentration levels of PM2.5 were six times higher than the safe limits. “Air pollution levels will cross 400 in coming days as low temperatures will not allow the particulate matter to disperse,” said director, air quality monitoring station, Lucknow University, Prof Dhruv Sen Singh.

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