The Ghaziabad city on Thursday emerged as the most polluted city across the county with the air quality index (AQI) deteriorating to a value of 335 under ‘very poor’ category as per the figures released by the Central Pollution Control Board. The last time city’s AQI stood under ’very poor’ category was on October 16 when it stood at a value of 339. With the rise in pollution both Noida and Greater Noida also slipped to ‘very poor’ category of air pollution.
The average AQI value of Ghaziabad’s four monitoring stations was recorded at 335 on Thursday. The district officials on Wednesday had claimed that air quality was better this season due to better enforcement in which the agencies levied penalties worth Rs 2.23 crore from October 15 to October 22 as against Rs 1.79 crore recommended last year.
The meteorological department officials, however, said that the pollution levels in the region are likely to remain the same for the next 2-3 days.
“Earlier the pollutants were dispersed with strong north westerly winds blowing at a speed of 20-25kmph. Now the slow easterly winds have started arriving, and have a speed of only 6-7kmph. The pollutants trapped due to stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana besides local pollutants are not getting dispersed anymore and have got trapped in the region,” Kuldeep Srivastava, head of Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi, said.
“Due to the slow speed of the easterly winds, the dispersal of trapped pollutants will be less. Hence, the conditions with AQI winds will prevail for the next 2-3 days,” he added.
According to the forecast by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting, Safar and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune the monitoring station at Vasundhara is likely to record AQI at 350, 382 and 414 on October 25, 26 and 27, respectively.
The officials of the UP pollution control board (UPPCB) said the primary pollutant at all the four monitoring stations in Ghaziabad on Thursday was PM 2.5.
“It is a result of stubble burning and local vehicular traffic emissions. It is also added in the air by construction activities and road dust which also add PM10. The high pollution levels are a result of a change in meteorological conditions as well as local conditions in the city. However, we will continue with enforcement and measures under the graded response action plan(Grap0,” Utsav Sharma, the regional officer of the UPPCB (Ghaziabad), said.
