Air quality still ‘very poor’ in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad
According to the AQI bulletin, Noida recorded the highest AQI among the three cities at 364, followed by Ghaziabad with an AQI of 356 and Greater Noida with an AQI of 348, all readings in the ”very poor” category of the AQI scale
The three cities of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad continued to reel under “very poor” air quality even two days after Diwali on Tuesday, showed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s daily air quality index (AQI) bulletin.
According to the AQI bulletin, Noida recorded the highest AQI among the three cities at 364, followed by Ghaziabad with an AQI of 356 and Greater Noida with an AQI of 348, all readings in the ”very poor” category of the AQI scale. Fine particulate matter (PM)2.5 was the prominent pollutant in all three cities, the CPCB data showed.
According to the AQI scale, readings between 0 and 50 are considered “good”, 51 and 100 are “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 are “moderate”, 201 and 300 are “poor”, 301 and 400 are “very poor”, 401 and 450 are ”severe” and above 450 are “severe+”.
The live air quality index reading, computed by the CPCB, showed that on Tuesday in Noida, the worst AQI (384) was recorded by the Sector 62 monitoring station, followed by an AQI of 357 at the Sector 116 station, 349 at Sector 1, 339 at Sector 125.
All four stations had PM 2.5 as the prominent pollutant, which is mostly caused by polluting fireworks, stubble burning, etc, said experts.
In Greater Noida, AQI of Knowledge Park 3 was 345 (PM2.5 the main pollutant) while AQI of Knowledge Park 5 was not computed by the CPCB on Tuesday.
In Ghaziabad, Indirapuram recorded the highest AQI of 391, followed by Loni at 368, Vasundhara at 343, and Sanjay Nagar at 320, with PM2.5 being the main pollutant.
Greater Noida based environmental activist Vikrant Tongad said, “The prime pollutant in all the three cities, as per the CPCB, is PM 2.5 which is an indicator of excessive fireworks polluting the air. It means that the impact of bursting of firecrackers is yet to subside. Change in weather conditions such as increases wind speed or rainfall may help in easing the problem but these are higly unlikely, according to the weather forecasts.”
Officials at Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) said the department has resumed dust mitigation measures across the cities.
UPPCB regional officer, Greater Noida, DK Gupta said, “After the rainfall last week, the AQI had significantly improved and the reading had gone to ”moderate” and so, dust mitigation exercises were put on hold. Since it has again deteriorated to “very poor”, we have resumed water sprinkling, mechanical sweeping, etc.”
On Monday, a day after Diwali, the AQI of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad was recorded at 363, 342 and 329, respectively, as against 299, 272 and 266, respectively, recorded a day after Diwali, in 2022.
On Tuesday, both minimum and maximum temperature in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad saw a dip compared to Monday. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the minimum and maximum temperature stood at 12.4 degrees Celsius and 25.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, as against 13.1 and 27.0 recorded on Monday.
In Ghaziabad, the minimum and maximum temperatures were recorded at 14.7 degrees Celsius and 24.7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, as against 15.4 and 26.0 recorded on Monday.
Weather experts suggest that the air pollution is likely to deteriorate further as temperatures dips, trapping pollutants closer to the surface. “As winter is almost here, temperatures will decrease further. The cooler air tends to trap pollutants closer to the ground, leading to the formation of a dense, toxic smog layer in the atmosphere, exacerbating air pollution,” said Tongad.
