Ghaziabad most polluted for 4th consecutive day, officials blame Ghazipur landfill fire for spike

Ghaziabad:

Ghaziabad:

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For the fourth consecutive day, Ghaziabad emerged as the most polluted city across the country as its pollution levels hovered high in the “severe” category on Wednesday.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) records showed that the city has been topping the list of most polluted cities in India since November 22.

On November 22, the air quality index (AQI) stood at 288 in the “poor” category category, at 365 at “very poor” on November 23 and at 428 in the “severe” zone on November 24.

The AQI was 444 in the “severe” category on Wednesday.

The officials said the burning of garbage at the Ghazipur landfill site in East Delhi affected the AQI levels at the Indirapuram and Vasundhara monitoring stations.

“Apart from the already prevalent pollution concentration, the fire at the Ghazipur landfill site affected the air quality in the city with the Indirapuram and Vasundhara monitoring stations recording ‘severe’ pollution levels. So, the overall AQI has deteriorated,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer, UP pollution control board.

Teams from the Delhi Fire Services were working to control the fire after they received call around 10pm on Tuesday. The fire was raging till Wednesday afternoon.

Several air quality monitoring stations in East Delhi also showed a major spike in pollution levels. At Patparganj, the station recorded an AQI of 427 at 4pm on Wednesday while Anand Vihar recorded 448 at the same time.

The landfill site is located close to Khoda Colony near UP Gate. The two monitoring stations in Indirapuram and Vasundhara in Ghaziabad are also located nearby.

The AQI at 4pm on Wednesday was recorded at 445 in Indirapuram, 476 in Loni, 419 in Sanjay Nagar and 438 in Vasundhara.

“The AQI levels at Loni are already high as work on road construction, drains, U-turns, etc., are going on. Besides there is local housing construction as well. So, the reading at Loni has basically remained high during the present season. All these factors combined have directly affected the pollution levels in the city,” he added.

Officials of the Indian Meteorological Department had said on Tuesday that the wind speed reduction has been detrimental to the dispersal of pollutants trapped in the region. Wind speed is likely to pick up after November 26 and will help in flushing out pollutants.

The officials had said instances of stubble burning counts have decreased drastically and the activity is in the final phases.

According to the forecast of the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research, the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM2.5 levels stood at 12%, 6% and 4% on November 22, 23 and 24, while it reduced further to 2% on November 25.

“Despite chalking out numerous plans, there is hardly any implementation at the ground level. Instances of burning of waste and garbage are rampant and construction works are still going on. It was essential that construction of roads, etc., should have been completed before the onset of the winter season. The pollution board also has a severe resource and staff crunch and it is very difficult for them to carry out enforcement and surveillance,” said Vikrant Sharma, a city-based environmentalist and a lawyer.