Jalandhar, Oct. 23 -- The extended Diwali celebrations and rising number of farm fires led to further decline in air quality in Punjab on Wednesday. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said the industrial town of Mandi Gobindgarh was the most polluted place in the state at 4 pm on Wednesday with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 293, which falls in the "very poor" category. It was followed by 278 in Ludhiana, 268 in Jalandhar, 262 in Patiala, 241 in Amritsar, 239 in Khanna and 167 in Bathinda. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, 401 and 450 severe and above 450 severe plus. AQI values between 101 and 200 can cause breathing discomfort to people with lung and heart diseases; while most people can experience breathing discomfort when the value is between 201 and 300. The prominent pollutant continues to remain PM2.5, which is released by burning firecrackers and stubble. Punjab Pollution Control Board data shows the average AQI was poorer after two days of firecracker bursting on Monday and Tuesday. The state registered an average AQI of 215 against last year's AQI of 265. The average AQI post Diwali was 207 in 2023, while it was 224 in 2022 and 268 in 2021. A PPCB official said paddy stubble burning can't be solely blamed for the poor air quality. "There is drastic drop of over 60% in the stubble burning cases but the bursting of firecrackers has led to an increase in pollution levels in Punjab," the official said, requesting anonymity. Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana after harvesting the paddy crop in October and November is often blamed for the rise in air pollution. As the window for sowing the rabi crop, wheat, is short after the paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue. PPCB executive engineer Atul Kaushal said the board had compiled data related to the pollution level and divided it into three parts - pre-Diwali, Diwali and post Diwali, and found that the air quality remained less impacted this year. "The average AQI on Sunday (October 19) was 117, while it was 151 on October 20 and 231 on Tuesday (October 21). It was lower than reported last year when the AQI the day before Diwali was 150 and 216 on Diwali day and 265, a day after the festival," Kaushal said. The board has also compared the average AQI of Punjab and Delhi and it came to fore that Delhi's average AQI in the past three days remained on a higher side. "Delhi's average AQI has been fluctuating between 296 and 351 over the past three days," he said....