Visibility over Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida low; haze to prevail for a few days, says met dept

Ghaziabad: Visibility in the three cities of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Wednesday was low due to cover of trapped pollutants, as a result of low wind

Ghaziabad: Visibility in the three cities of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida on Wednesday was low due to cover of trapped pollutants, as a result of low wind speed in the region. Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that unfavourable meteorological conditions have resulted in the scenario, which is likely to continue for two-three days.

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The haze was witnessed on Wednesday morning and in many areas, hardly any sunlight came through. Officials of the IMD said that the visibility reduced to about 800 metres due to presence of pollutants, which stayed between the ground level and up to one kilometre from the ground.

“The cover of pollutants had come down below one kilometre, and also stayed at the ground level. The wind speed also remained low with an average of about eight-10 kilometres per hour (kmph). Further, there was also a decline in temperature. So, all these factors contributed to lesser dispersal of pollutants, which resulted in hazy conditions due to presence of pollutants,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of IMD’s Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi.

“The conditions are likely to remain prevalent for next two-three days. There may be marginal improvement in wind speed but it will have no major effect on dispersal of pollutants. The temperature during the day time is likely to remain about 28-29 degrees Celsius while the temperature during the night time will hover around 10-11 degrees Celsius,” he added.

The residents said that weather conditions remained hazy throughout. They added that they had difficulty in breathing in the open air.

“There was hardly any sunshine on Wednesday and as I breathed, I could feel the quality of air was bad, when I went out to the market. The visibility was poor and hazy conditions prevailed throughout the day, continuing till evening. The air quality might deteriorate further and the authorities should increase the frequency of water sprinkling activities on roads,” said Sanjeev Sethi, a resident of Sector 107, Noida, adding that he had to keep the windows of his home shut throughout the day.

The Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) air quality index (AQI) for Ghaziabad, Greater Noida and Noida stood at 389, 368 and 345, respectively, all under the “very poor” category, on Wednesday.

The AQI of 389 for Ghaziabad is among the highest this season since October 1. The same AQI was recorded on October 29 as well.

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”.

Although Ghaziabad’s AQI stood under the “very poor” category on Wednesday, the AQI levels at Loni, Sanjay Nagar and monitoring stations spiked to “severe” categories, with AQI values of 436 and 415, respectively, at 4pm on Wednesday, as per the CPCB’s bulletin.

Meanwhile, Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park 5 monitoring station also reached the “severe category”, with an AQI reading of 405.

Instances of fire, however, continued unabated.

An HT team spotted instances of stubble burning at Kallu Garhi near Dasna, while another major fire took place at a garbage dump in Raj Nagar Extension Wednesday evening. Chief fire officer Sunil Kumar Singh said that a fire tender was rushed to Raj Nagar Extension to douse the blaze.

“We immediately informed the authorities and one fire tender arrived. The fire tender had to refill water several times from a nearby highrise in order to douse the flames. It took over one hour to control and completely douse the fire. The blaze resulted in thick smoke in the air which engulfed the nearby highrises. There was low visibility and difficulty in breathing due to pollution prevailing throughout the day; it was probably the worst day of this season in the city,” said Vikrant Sharma, a resident of Raj Nagar Extension.

Utsav Sharma, the regional officer of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) in Ghaziabad, said that action will be initiated in both the incidents.

“We will ask the agricultural department to initiate action in the instance of stubble burning at Kallu Garhi, and recommend a penalty of Rs 25 lakh against the plot owner at Raj Nagar Extension. The pollution conditions prevailed due to low wind speed and drop in temperature,” he said.

Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said that he will direct agencies to intensify pollution abatement measures.

“In case the conditions continue this way, we will also consider a stoppage of infrastructure-related works in certain areas in coming days,” he added.

The forecast by System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), a private weather forecasting agency, said that overall Delhi’s AQI is likely to stay in the lower end of “very poor” category and deterioration is forecasted for November 5 and 6 towards the higher end of “very poor” category.

It said that Safar synergised stubble fire counts over Punjab, Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand, and neighbouring areas are marginally decreased, but still significant and stood at 1,949 yesterday (Tuesday), and stubble-burning share in PM2.5 in Delhi’s air was estimated at 5% for Wednesday.