Chandigarh, Oct. 24 -- While City Beautiful's air quality has improved from poor to moderate, Panchkula remains on the edge with poor air. As per the Haryana State Pollution Control Board's observatory in Sector 6, Panchkula, the AQI was 242 on Thursday evening. In Chandigarh, where the air quality had slipped to 'very poor' and 'poor' levels during Diwali fireworks on Monday and Tuesday, and continued to be poor on Wednesday even as the festivities concluded, the AQI levels dropped below 200 on Thursday, bringing it to the moderate category. At 7 pm, the AQI at the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station (CAAQMS) in Sector 22 was 154, 106 at CAAQMS, Sector 25, and 105 at CAAQMS, Sector 53. Panchkula's air, on the other hand, remained poor right from the morning, a trend that was seen in other Haryana cities as well. As per the daily AQI bulletin released by the Central Pollution Control Board, the air quality in Ambala and Panipat on Thursday was 253 while in Rohtak, it was 299. In comparison, the AQI in Chandigarh - the average of all CAAQMS taken at 4 pm - was 122. While AQI in their moderate category can cause breathing discomfort to people with asthma, heart and lung diseases, in the poor category, it can cause breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure. IMD officials say the reason why Chandigarh's air is cleaner than Haryana at the moment is due to the temperature. While Chandigarh's minimum temperature was recorded at 17.5degC, 2.8 degrees above normal, on Thursday, in Hisar of Haryana, it was much lower at 15.6degC. The AQI in Punjab is also comparatively better with Amritsar at 186 and Patiala at 119, though the air quality of Ludhiana is poor at 235. IMD Chandigarh director Surender Paul explained, "When temperatures are low, it leads to temperature inversion - a phenomenon where warm air sits above a colder, denser layer near the surface, acting like a lid that prevents pollutants from rising and dissipating. This causes the AQI to shoot up. Right now, Chandigarh's temperature is above normal and we are experiencing sunny days, which are helping clean up the air despite fireworks. This will, however, change in the coming days when temperature inversion kicks in and an anticyclonic formation over the region which will keep winds from blowing. Meanwhile, UT director environment and member secretary of Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) Saurabh Kumar said that efforts are on to keep the AQI from rising. "In lower temperatures, even the exhaust emissions of the vehicles are enough to make the city's air poor and worse. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with the municipal corporation regarding this."...