Bihar’s air quality deteriorates with dip in mercury

With a dip in temperature, the air quality index (AQI) turned ‘very poor’ in the state on Tuesday

With a dip in temperature, the air quality index (AQI) turned ‘very poor’ in the state on Tuesday.

Low visibility at Bailey road in Patna on November 20. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an overall air quality index (AQI) of Patna based on six air monitoring stations stood at 313 which was categorised under ‘very poor’. Observatories near Planetarium, Danapur, Samanpura and Rajbansi Nagar inched closed to ‘severe’ air pollution where AQI levels fluctuated between 350 to 380. Muradpur-based apparatus recorded ‘poor’ and Shikapur ‘moderate’ AQI.

The CPCB classifies an AQI of zero to 50 as ‘good’, 51-100 as ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 as ‘moderate’, 201-300 as ‘poor’, 301-400 as ‘very poor’ and above 401 as ‘severe’.

Apart from Patna, Muzaffarpur also recorded ‘very poor’ air quality with an index value of 346. Gaya recorded ‘poor’ air quality with an index value of 233.

Meanwhile, the maximum temperature in the state remained 22°C while the minimum temperature was around 10°C.

As per Patna Meteorological Centre, Gaya remained the coldest in the state with the lowest minimum temperature of 7.8°C. Patna recorded a maximum temperature of 24.2°C and a minimum temperature of 9.2°C.

As per data available, Patna recorded ‘very poor’ AQI five times in 15 days this month.

Ghosh said the pollution control board is working closely with concerned departments including road and building construction, agriculture, environment and urban development for reducing air pollution levels in the state.

He said, “In a recent meeting, we have emphasised construction department to ensure coverage of construction sites with green screen. Similarly, other departments are also working on assigned tasks for reducing air pollution in the state. However, we need to put consistent efforts for a couple of years to get visible improvement in air pollution in the state”, he added.