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. Speaking about why Haryana was more polluted on Wednesday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) director for the region, Surender Paul said, "Cyclone Montha is active in the Bay of Bengal, while another system has also formed over the Arabian Sea. While they are quite far to cause rain in this region, they are bringing in moisture here. High moisture can cause temperature inversion, which causes the AQI to rise significantly." He added that this effect was higher in Haryana than Punjab and Chandigarh. However, when asked why there is a significant difference in AQI between Panchkula and Chandigarh, Paul said that local temperature conditions also played a role, while noting that such a big difference between the Sector 22 station in Chandigarh and Sector 6 station in Panchkula could also point to errors in the data. The AQI of Delhi is deduced by taking the average of 38 working stations in the national capital. Readings of individual stations in some cases may be higher than Panchkula, but the average is considerably lower in the daily CPCB bulletin. At 334, the air quality is considered "very poor" and can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure. Even Chandigarh's AQI of 219 is considered "poor", and can cause breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure. When contacted, UT director environment and member secretary of Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, Saurabh Kumar said, "A haze had formed over the city in the morning, causing the AQI to rise." He added that the UT will continue to work with the municipal corporation (MC) and use water sprinklers to keep pollution at bay. IMD Chandigarh director Surender Paul said relief was likely from November 1. "Cold Northwesterly winds will start blowing in the region. While this will cause the temperature to drop, the dry and cool winds will also remove pollutants from the air," he added. On the mercury front, the maximum temperature fell from 31.4degC on Tuesday to 30.4degC on Wednesday. The minimum temperature remained unchanged between Tuesday and Wednesday at 16.6degC. Over the next three days, the maximum temperature will hover around 31degC, while the minimum temperature will remain around 19degC....