LUCKNOW, Sept. 30 -- Lucknow's air quality deteriorated sharply within a day of the incessant rains easing, with the city's AQI rising from 32 on Monday to 80 on Tuesday, even as commuters continued to navigate through potholes, loose ballast and dust on several major roads. The AQI on Tuesday was in the satisfactory category, compared with Monday's good category. At the Gomti Nagar monitoring station, PM2.5 levels entered the poor category between 9pm on September 28 and the intervening night of September 29, while PM10 at the Kukrail live station was also recorded in the poor category during parts of the morning. Asked about the condition of roads under the Lucknow Municipal Corporation, chief engineer (civil) Mahesh Verma said around 510 km of roads fall under the civic body's jurisdiction. "We have started today onwards," Verma said when asked about the condition of the roads and repair work. The deterioration in air quality comes as several city roads remain damaged after the rains, with loose aggregate spilling onto the carriageway and being thrown up by passing vehicles. While the pollution data does not by itself establish that road damage caused the rise in particulate levels, the exposed road surface and dust have added to concerns for commuters travelling through these stretches. Lohia Path, one of the city's key links between Gomti Nagar and central Lucknow, along with service lanes of Shaheed Path, parts of Faizabad Road and roads in Indira Nagar are among the stretches where commuters are facing the problem. Driving through these roads has become not just bumpy but dangerous and hazardous. Potholes have surfaced and widened on damaged stretches, while loose ballast spilling out of the road is being thrown around by passing vehicles, turning some stretches into dusty and potentially dangerous corridors. For two-wheeler riders, the danger is not limited to hitting a pothole. Loose stones scattered across the road often make a bike or scooter unstable. "It is difficult to predict what is coming next. You see a pothole and try to move around it, but there are loose stones outside it too. On a two-wheeler, even a small skid can throw you off balance," said Saurabh Tiwari, a daily commuter who uses Lohia Path. Another commuter Ashish Adarsh travelling through the Shaheed Path service lane said the condition becomes particularly troublesome when several vehicles pass together. "The road is broken at multiple points and the loose material keeps getting pushed around. When vehicles pass, dust rises and for a few seconds it becomes difficult to see the road properly," the commuter said. The problem continues after dark. Potholes become harder to spot while loose ballast is difficult to distinguish from the road surface under artificial lighting. Riders also face the added risk of stones being displaced by vehicles travelling ahead....