More than 30 cities across the country has "good" air and as many had "poor" quality on December 3, the Central Pollution Control Board data shows.
The proportion of cities with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of below 50 rose to a seventeen-day high of 12.8 percent from 11.6 percent the previous day and 4.8 percent a week ago.
Among the below-50-AQI cities, Mizoram’s capital Aizwal had the lowest reading of 23.
The number of cities with "poor" air was also down. Just 15 percent of India’s 257 cities, which reported data, had an AQI of above 200 compared with 23 percent a week ago.
Four of these cities had an AQI above 300. Hajipur in Bihar was the worst at 353 followed by Durgapur (337) and Asansol (323) in West Bengal and Buxar (309) in Bihar.
Delhi’s air quality improved further. The national capital had an AQI of 268 better than 280 the previous day.
It was still the most polluted metro followed by Kolkata, which had an AQI of 191, and Mumbai, which had an AQI of 129.
On December 3, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad had an AQI reading of below 100. Bengaluru was at 50, Chennai at 53 and Hyderabad at 65.
An AQI between 0 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.
Among the international cities, New York’s AQI of 24 was better than 253 Indian cities, while London’s 44 was lower than 231 Indian cities. Beijing had an AQI of 56 on December 3.
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