Better air days in Noida, Gzb, mercury to drop

Ghaziabad: The scientists of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have predicted a temperature drop in the coming four or five days and further improvement in air quality.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s air quality index (AQI), on a scale of 0 to 500, the three cities of Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida on Thursday recorded ‘moderate’ (101-200) air quality. The AQI for Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida stood at 105, 110 and 101, respectively.

The IMD said parts of North Delhi and areas in Greater Noida and Noida received light rain Thursday, while the region witnessed an increased wind speed of about 25-30kmph.

“As a result of the increased wind speed and light rains since Wednesday, there has been a faster dispersal of pollutants from the region. On Thursday, we had gusty winds of about 35-40kmph for parts of the day. This further helped in the speedy dispersal of pollutants,” Kuldeep Srivastava, head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi, said.

The officials added parts of Punjab and Haryana have also experienced rain during the past two days and,hence, winds coming from that side will be cleaner.

“From Thursday, we have no forecast of rain till December 2 or 3. The wind speed will also come down to 10-12kmph and regular dispersal of pollutants will happen. The pollutants may rise a bit but not significantly. As a result of the prevailing weather conditions, the minimum temperature is expected to go down from present 16.4 degrees Celsius to about 10 degrees Celsius on November 30 and to 9 degrees by December 2 or 3,” he added.

Meanwhile, agencies such as the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) are looking forward to a lifting of the ban on construction activities as several projects are currently on hold in view of high pollution.

“The works related to eight model roads, river Hindon overbridge, Bunkar Mart, construction of PM Avas Yojna flats and several others are on hold. Once the ban is lifted, we expect to restart the construction activities,” Kanchan Verma, vice-chairperson, GDA, said.