This year’s pre-Diwali pollution levels worst since 2018 in Noida, G Noida and Ghaziabad

Every winter, air quality in the national capital region (NCR) plummets with unfavourable weather, stubble burning and pollution from local sources. This gets worse

Every winter, air quality in the national capital region (NCR) plummets with unfavourable weather, stubble burning and pollution from local sources. This gets worse around Diwali with people bursting crackers, unmindful of the emissions they commit.

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Central pollution control board’s (CPCB’s) air quality data of the 14 days prior to the festival suggests that, since 2018, this year has been especially bad for the cities of Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

According to the data, the average AQI during this period this year was: Ghaziabad 400, Greater Noida 390 and Noida 378, all in the “very poor” category . Last year, the three cities’ average AQI ranged from 267 to 284 when Diwali fell on October 27. In 2018, this was between 330 to 357 when the festival fell on November 7.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe.”

“The pre-Diwali pollution levels have been on higher side this year as the instances of stubble burning started early in October and the monsoon this year also retreated early. Further, we also had unfavourable meteorological conditions which combined with local pollutants added to higher pollution levels,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of the UP-pollution control board. He added that although the date on which Diwali fell in each year was different, it would not be significant as the weather played an important role in determining pollution levels and was more or less similar every year.

Severe days

This year also saw the highest number of “severe” days-- six-- in the fortnight before Diwali in the three cities. In 2019, there were none, while in 2018 there were five for Ghaziabad, one for Greater Noida and three for Noida.

“The pollution levels year after year have persisted and threatening to go higher side. Post-Diwali period will be litmus test for ban on use and sale of fire-crackers. If the pollution level continues to be high, the authorities will have to face a lot of questions. The ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ days of are only observed when there is rain. Otherwise, ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ categories have become a norm,” said Akash Vashishtha, a city-based environmentalist.

According to official statistics of the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space Laboratory, the three states of Punjab, Haryana and UP have contributed 80007 instances of crop residue burning during the period October 1 to November 12 with share of Punjab alone at 91.26% with 73020 instances.

The total counts were 54671 during the same period in 2019 and 60759 in 2018 with Punjab’s share being 46211 (84.52%) and 49387 (81.28%), respectively.

“This year we are also conducting sampling of contribution of metals in air which are generally released through bursting of crackers. This sampling will help us assess reduction due to ban on fire-crackers. This sampling will go on for about 10 days,” said a scientist from UP pollution control board.

However, the Diwali day is predicted to remain under “very poor” to “severe” quality on Saturday. The three cities remained under “poor” category AQI on Diwali day in 2018 while the AQI went worse to “very poor” category on Diwali day in 2019.

According to Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi from the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the air quality will remain in upper end of “very poor” to “severe” quality on November 14, the day of Diwali, and it is likely to remain similar on November 15 as well.

“The significant improvement in air quality is likely from November 16 under the influence of a western disturbance, isolated rainfall over plains of northwest India and adjoining central India is likely on November 15,” the forecast, said.