What were you breathing this Diwali ? , Air quality drastically decreases in Pune

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – Pune City which was named as the best in the country to live on is the 7^th most congested city in the world and another thing which no punkear will be proud of is out now. Pune is the best city to live but is the air quality at the time of Diwali the best ? there is a big question mark on it.

As Pune’s air quality had improved in last week, it again partially deteriorated on Wednesday, the main day of Diwali. One of the main reasons for worsening in the air quality, according to experts, was bursting of firecrackers despite Supreme Court’s (SC) restriction on bursting of crackers for two hours between 8 pm to 10 pm.

On the day of Diwali, November 7, the concentration of PM 2.5 was 70µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air) and PM 10 was 115µg/m3, both of which fell in the moderate category, said Dr Gufran Beig, project director of the System of Air Quality and weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR). The day after Diwali, November 8, however, saw a higher concentration of PM 2.5, at 127 µg/m3, and PM 10, at 195.3µg/m3, which fall in the ‘very poor’ and ‘poor’ category respectively. These figures were still lower than the PM 2.5 level seen in 2016, which was 168 µg/m3, said Beig.

Maharashtra pollution control data revealed that PM10 particles level were found to be 78 g/m3 at 8 pm, while the permissible limit is 100 g/m3. At the same time PM 2.5 particles level were at 103 g/m3 even as the permissible limit is 60 g/m3.

SAFAR is run by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, with the support of the India Meteorological Department, and predicts the quality of air.

SAFAR scientists said Mumbai also experienced a higher amount of PM 2.5 the day after Diwali, with the air quality index, or AQI, rising to 305, which fell in the ‘very poor’ range. The air quality was, however, better than it was in 2016 and 2017, indicating that the pollution caused by firecrackers was lower this year, said scientists.

Nitin Shinde, sub-regional officer, Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB), said, “Reduced vehicular traffic on road and rainfall are two important factors due to which there percentage of PM10 and PM 2.5 in air reduced ahead of Diwali. As far as noise level is concerned it also shows declining result after restriction on firecrackers bursting. So it means,this year Punekars are celebrating Green Diwali.” However, authorities warn that burning of firecrackers will reach its peak in the next few days.