The pollution levels in Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar districts surged on Sunday, despite the shutdown of industrial units, commercial establishments and lakhs of vehicles remaining off roads in view of the janta curfew.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday announced that 15 districts, including Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, will remain under lockdown from March 23 to March 25. Officials are hopeful that the lockdown will result in improved air quality.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB’s) Air Quality Index (AQI), Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida registered readings of 237 (‘poor’), 224 (‘poor’) and 176 (‘moderate’), respectively, on Sunday, up from the respective readings of 207, 198 and 161 on Saturday.
“High levels of pollution levels are being recorded in the two districts since the start of winter. When all business and industrial establishments are shut and vehicles are off roads, the pollution levels will come down. It may take some time for pollutants to get dispersed,” said Akash Vashishtha, a city-based environmentalist and lawyer.
As per estimates, around 15 lakh vehicles are registered in the two districts, while thousands from neighbouring states move through the city highways every day.
{{/usCountry}}As per estimates, around 15 lakh vehicles are registered in the two districts, while thousands from neighbouring states move through the city highways every day.
{{/usCountry}}“The impact of vehicles being off roads and industrial units shutting will be observed in the coming days. We have about 10-12km of wind speed (northwesterly) blowing, which will definitely disperse the pollutants. The wind speed will remain the same for another four to five days. There could be light showers on March 25 and also on March 27/28,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s regional weather forecasting centre, New Delhi.
“For the next two to three days, the maximum temperature will rise, to about 32-33 degrees Celsius while the minimum will rise to about 17-18 degrees Celsius,” he added.
Officials of the UP pollution control board (UPPCB) said that they are also expecting the pollution levels to decrease, after the lockdown orders were issued. “The present pollution figures could be the normal pollution level. An improvement is expected in case the lockdown continues,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UPPCB.