Bad air quality plagues Greater Noida since ten days, AQI slips to ‘poor’

Greater Noida residents have been facing "poor" air quality for the past 10 days, while neighboring cities Ghaziabad and Noida maintained a "moderate" level. The decline in air quality in Greater Noida is attributed to construction activities, road cuts, and vehicular emissions. The area near Knowledge Park 5 has been identified as a pollution hotspot. Authorities are implementing measures to address the issue.

For the past 10 consecutive days, Greater Noida residents have been grappling with ‘poor’ air quality, as the decline began on September 24, in stark contrast to neighboring cities Ghaziabad and Noida, which maintained a ‘moderate’ air quality during the same period, officials said on Tuesday.

(Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Greater Noida’s air quality index (AQI) stood at a ‘moderate’ level (AQI 124) on September 23. However, since then, the air quality has deteriorated, consistently falling under the ‘poor’ category.

According to officials, PM10, a particulate matter, has been the predominant pollutant throughout this period.

In contrast, Ghaziabad and Noida recorded their highest AQI at 179 each, both within the ‘moderate’ category. This occurred on September 30 for Ghaziabad and October 2 for Noida. In the meantime, Greater Noida experienced adverse conditions, with its highest AQI reaching 298 on September 30.

“The high pollution levels in Greater Noida can be attributed to construction activities and road cuts on roads like the 60 metres Bisrakh Road and other 130 metre road which goes to different villages and sectors. These are marred by dust. Vehicular emission and congestions also aid pollution here,” said Vikrant Tongad, a city-based environmentalist.

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”, and 401 and 450 are “severe” and “severe+” when AQI exceeds 450.

The official sources in the UP pollution control board (UPPCB) said that the pollution levels of Greater Noida, especially the area near Knowledge Park (KP) 5, was also discussed and highlighted during the meeting held by UP chief secretary on September 29.

Greater Noida has two monitoring stations at Knowledge Park (KP) 5 while the other is at Knowledge Park 3.

The regional officer of UPPCB, Greater Noida, said that the higher levels are mostly attributed to PM10 which is locally affecting the KP5 monitoring station.

According to officials KP5 area having UPPCB’s monitoring station is among the four listed hotspots in Greater Noida.

“The spike in AQI is not due to widespread factors but due to local factors affecting the KP5 monitoring station. There are some local infrastructure works like that of high-tension electricity lines which is going on near (hardly 50 metres) to KP5 monitoring station. There is also a local market in the vicinity and also another dust emitting source at a nearby college. So, all these factors are affecting the station and resulting in higher levels of pollution. On our part, we are taking up water sprinkling at the site but water dries out quickly in clear weather,” said DK Gupta, regional officer of UPPCB, while adding that nearby service lanes in the area are also patchy.

The officials said that the other station at KP3 is mostly normal and witnesses spike only in PM2.5 levels which sometimes results due to high volume of traffic.

They also said that the local works may continue to affect the KP5 station in the coming days.

“PM10 levels are high in areas which are affected by road dust or construction activities. It soars when vehicles pass through these dusty areas. Greater Noida has majority presence of villages and internal roads are dusty. This leads to increase in PM10 levels,” said Akash Vashishtha, an environment lawyer.

As the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) remains in effect, authorities have identified four pollution hotspots, including KP5, Gaur City intersection, Tilpata Crossing, and Pari Chowk.