Yamunanagar breathes cleanest air of the year

Regional officer of Haryana State Pollution Control Board says there is almost negligible industrial operations under the limits of municipality and rural areas; rain due to the Tauktae cyclone has also settled the pollutants emitted from vehicles and other sources

Yamunanagar on Thursday recorded its cleanest air day this year as the air quality index (AQI) hovered between good (0-50) and satisfactory (51-100) categories for almost the entire day.

Haryana is under complete lockdown for past almost three weeks owing to the rising cases of coronavirus in its second wave. (Picture for representational purpose)

The website of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that displays hourly levels from the device installed at Gobindpura showed the levels as low as 50 (good) at 3pm.

The AQI defines overall air quality. As per CPCB, it is calculated only if inputs are available for a minimum three pollutants out of which one should necessarily be either PM2.5 or PM10.

Nirmal Kashyap, regional officer of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), said this was an abnormal situation where the levels dropped to such an extent for the first time this year.

“This could have happened as there is almost negligible industrial operations under the limits of municipality and rural areas. The rain due to the Tauktae cyclone has also settled the pollutants emitted from vehicles and other sources,” he added.

Haryana is under complete lockdown for past almost three weeks owing to the rising cases of coronavirus in its second wave.

The district is an industrial hub of plywood, mica, aluminium, and utensils, factories of which emit carbon to certain levels and as it is situated on the banks of the Yamuna, mining activities have always contributed to its air quality.

In March, it was placed at 26th position in the top-30 most-polluted cities in the world and was among eight polluted places of the state and 22 of the country in a report released by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.

As per an order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), HSPCB has also prepared a time-bound district environment plan last month and assigned tasks to various departments.