Chandigarh, Oct. 30 -- The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Panchkula soared to 334 on Wednesday, making it the worst in the country, as per the daily AQI bulletin released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

National capital New Delhi, with an AQI of 279, also fared better than Panchkula, while Chandigarh's air quality was also in the poor bracket at 219.

The bulletin is prepared by taking the average readings of the stations in a city and comparing the AQI values at 4 pm on a given day. While Chandigarh has three stations run by the CPCB, Panchkula has one.

Even the second most-polluted city in the country - Charkhi Dadri at 323 - is in Haryana, whose several cities had higher AQI than Chandigarh and Punjab.

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