Noida: Despite the daylong rain, air quality worsened across the region on Tuesday. Noida’s air quality index (AQI) rose sharply to 331, slipping into the ‘very poor’ category from 219 (poor) on Monday. Greater Noida recorded a similar trend, with AQI deteriorating from 226 to 304, while Ghaziabad’s AQI climbed from 302 to 376, remaining firmly in ‘very poor’ bracket.This comes just a day after the region briefly emerged from hazardous air conditions. Light rain on Friday had pushed AQI levels into the ‘moderate’ range over the weekend, ending a prolonged spell of 85 days marked by ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ air quality.Station-wise data showed consistent deterioration of AQI. In Noida, Sector 125 air monitoring station recorded an AQI of 346, followed by Sector 116 at 343, Sector 1 at 333 and Sector 62 at 303 — all in the ‘very poor’ category. In Greater Noida, Knowledge Park V registered 335 (‘very poor’), while Knowledge Park III stood at 273 (‘poor’). Ghaziabad’s Loni station recorded 413 in the ‘severe’ category, while Indirapuram (392), Vasundhara (390) and Sanjay Nagar (309) were all in ‘very poor’.Delhi’s air quality worsened to very poor, with an average AQI of 336, as against 241 a day earlier at 4 pm, when the Central Pollution Control Board releases its 24-hour average readings. Since parts of Delhi and NCR saw light rain on Tuesday, the AQI is expected to improve to poor on Wednesday.
