Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: Air pollution in the Kathmandu Valley has reached the second position today. Air pollution has also started increasing in the last few days as the weather is becoming foggy.

Director General of the Department of Environment, Gyan Raj Subedi, urged the people not to go out unnecessarily and wear masks during the high time of air pollution. “Weather has not been clear, sunshine and rainfall has not occurred in most places of the country including the Kathmandu Valley for some time. The wind is also not blowing,” he said, adding, “Pollution will decrease once the weather becomes clearer. ”

Meteorologist at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Sanjeev Adhikari, said that the weather will improve from today itself and the atmosphere will be gone. According to the Department of Environment, air pollution will be reduced only after the weather is clear.

As per the Air Quality Index (AQI), the air quality index (AQI) in Kathmandu Valley has reached 174 as of 4:00 pm today. With this, Kathmandu has been listed as the second most polluted city in the world.

Environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar said that timely preparedness was necessary to control pollution and widespread public awareness was necessary.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, while an AQI between 51 and 100 is considered “cautionary”. Between 101 and 150 are considered “unhealthy”, which can especially affect respiratory and heart patients. Between 15 and 200 are considered “unhealthy”, 201 and 300 “very unhealthy”, and above 300 “extremely dangerous”.