Air quality remains ‘severe’ for second consecutive day in Noida and Ghaziabad

Noida: The air quality of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Friday remained under ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day, even as the air pollutants

Noida: The air quality of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Friday remained under ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day, even as the air pollutants ventilated leading to a slight improvement. The levels of particulate matter (PM) pollutants were six to eight times the safe limits, making even healthy people vulnerable to lungs and heart related ailments.

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According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), while the wind speed picked up and reached 8 to10 kmph for a short span leading to ventilation of pollutants on Friday, high instances of fire or stubble burning in neighbouring states did not let the situation to improve significantly. Weather analysts said that the unsupportive meteorological conditions would lead the air pollution levels in the three cities to fluctuate between ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ categories.

According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), air quality index (AQI) value of Noida, on a scale of 0 to 500, was 406 on Friday against 450 a day earlier, both ‘severe’. Similarly, the AQI values for Ghaziabad and Greater Noida were 433 (464 on Thursday) and 421 (457 a day earlier), respectively.

“The situation is likely to prevail for the next three days as the wind speed will remain low. So, even if there is any improvement, it won’t be a significant one and only marginal. The wind directions will remain westerly, north-westerly coming via Punjab and Haryana,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD.

According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), approximately 3,225 instances of stubble fire were observed in neighbouring states in the past 24 hours, against 4,135 the day before. SAFAR also anticipated air quality may improve but will remain within upper and middle range of ‘very poor’.

“Not so calm surface winds are forecasted for the next two days favouring dispersion of pollutants, AQI is likely to improve today and tomorrow, but within the middle-end of the very poor category, deterioration is expected by the late 8th towards the higher end of very poor. SAFAR synergized stubble fire counts over Punjab, Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand and neighbouring areas stood at 3,225 yesterday,” said a SAFAR forecast.

Meanwhile, the average PM2.5 pollutant level for Noida was 270.67 microgrammes per cubic metres (ug/m3) which is more than six times the safe limits, against 372 ug/m3 a day earlier. The PM10 for Noida was 478.077 ug/m3 – almost eight times the safe limits, against 571.4 ug/m3 a day earlier.

The PM2.5 and PM10 for Greater Noida was 276.25 ug/m3 (400.06 on Thursday) and 520.17ug/m3 (620.87 on Thursday) respectively. The permissible limits of PM2.5 and PM10 are 40ug/m3 and 60ug/m3, respectively.

“The pollutants, even though they have improved in the past 24 hours, are strong and high enough to cause health impact and the situation seems same as the last year,” said Shambhavi Shukla, programme officer (air pollution) at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).