IN AIR QUALITY, VICTORY OF EVIL OVER GOOD

In air quality, victory of evil over good

Faridabad, Ggn, Delhi Among Top 5 Polluted Cities On Dussehra: CPCB Data

The ritual of marking the victory of good over evil -burning Ravana effigies -had quite the opposite effect on air quality in Delhi-NCR, with the capital, Gurgaon and Faridabad among the five most polluted cities in the country on Dussehra, according to data on 25 cities released by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Faridabad witnessed the worst pollution levels and had an air quality index (AQI) of 270, followed by Gurgaon (238) and Delhi (223), according to the CPCB report.The measurements were taken between October 11 afternoon and October 12 afternoon. Air quality index is calculated by measuring the levels of various pollutants to come up with a number that denotes overall pollution. An AQI of 201-300 is `poor', ac cording to Indian standards.

The five most polluted cities were Faridabad, Lucknow (264), Chandrapur (248), Gurgaon and Delhi. A senior official of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said effigy-burning and reckless cracker bursting may bring temporary thrill to people but has a longterm adverse impact on environment and health. Jaipur, Jodhpur, Muzaffarpur, Panchkula and Solapur were slightly less polluted.

“For NCR cities, which include Faridabad and Gurgaon, it was bad as the PM 2.5 levels were very high, which can cause breathing discom fort to the people,“ the official said, adding the air quality was not expected to improve in the next 48 hours.

Before Dussehra, the PM 2.5 level (fine particles smaller than 2.5 micrometres) in Gurgaon was 90 micrograms per cubic metre, but after the festivities on Tuesday , it shot up to 318. In Faridabad, the PM 2.5 level before Dussehra was 106, and after the celebrations, it went up to 169. According to the real-time pollution monitoring machine, the PM 2.5 level at one point increased from 238 to 395 on Wednesday in Gurgaon.

Niranjan Raje, a former member of the Expert Appraisal Committee of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, said, “These days plastic materials are heavily used in making effigies. Earlier, bamboo sticks were used. Besides, Chinese crackers cause more pollution.“

 (toi)