NDTV Profit reported Faridkot at an AQI of 1,009 on Nov. 9, a reading beyond India’s official National AQI scale that the outlet did not tie to a named data provider.
India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) says the National AQI has six categories and ends at 500, with “Severe” covering scores from 401 to 500. The values are index readings, not physical measurements. NDTV Profit did not identify the index used for its ranking, the monitoring station or the averaging period. The outlet published its story at 9:45 a.m. ET (14:45 UTC) Nov. 9 but did not give a measurement time for the readings.
Other outlets cited lower AQI.in figures for Faridkot on Nov. 9. Moneycontrol reported that an AQI.in global ranking at 10 p.m. ET Nov. 8 (03:00 UTC Nov. 9) listed Faridkot at 804 and Bathinda at 816. NewsBytes separately reported Faridkot at 842 and Bathinda at 797 in an AQI.in update on Nov. 9. The reports do not establish whether they used the same monitoring inputs or measurement windows.
NDTV Profit’s list also put Bathinda at 739, Jalandhar at 695, Sirsa at 566 and Hoshiarpur at 558. Its remaining entries were Aligarh at 474, Budaun at 468, Srinagar at 450, Lucknow at 448 and Prayagraj at 439. The outlet described the cities as hazardous; CPCB’s top category is “Severe.”
One possible point of comparison is the U.S. system: Environmental Protection Agency rules allow AQI values above 500 in its “Hazardous” category. NDTV Profit did not say whether its figure used that scale.
EconoTimes previously examined divergent Bathinda AQI rankings after two Nov. 3 reports gave sharply different readings for the city.
