Bhubaneswar: The air quality at four urban areas in Odisha, including the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, was declared as ‘very poor’ by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) today.

The CPCB described the air quality at Balasore, Bhubaneswar, Byasanagar in Jajpur district and Cuttack as very poor in its Air Quality Index (AQI).

The AQI value for Balasore was 346 while it was 304 for Bhubaneswar, 353 for Byasanagar and 318 for Cuttack on Wednesday, said the CPCB.

Apart from the four urban areas in Odisha, the air quality at 12 towns across the country was categorized as very poor by the CPCB. These towns are Baddi, Bhiwadi, Dehradun, Delhi, Dharuhera, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Gummidipoondi, Gurugram, Meerut, Noida and Visakhapatnam.

According to the experts, prolonged exposure to very poor-quality air (air pollution) may cause respiratory illness among the people.