All the top ten cities with worst air quality in the country on Sunday were from Bihar. Patnaites breathed the worst air of the season as its air quality index (AQI) plunged to 402 in the ‘severe’ category due to poor dispersion of pollutants owing to weak winds, moisture incursion, drop in temperature, road dust or dust from construction sites and vehicular emission.
Begusarai recorded the worst AQI level at 474, closely followed by Darbhanga (446), Katihar (442), Siwan (429), Purnia (404), Saharsa (404), Patna (402) and Samastipur (399). Greater Noida and Ara had AQI at 398 and Bhagalpur at 388 while Delhi had it at 353.
As per the CPCB, severe AQI level can affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases.