The Supreme Court ban on sale of firecrackers may not have brought drastic change in pollution levels but it certainly has resulted in better air quality this Diwali as compared to last two years.
As per the online data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) value on Thursday was 319, putting it in “very poor” category, while it touched 340 in the wee hours of Friday. It’s a far cry from last year’s Diwali when the AQI had touched “severe” level at 431 and 445 a day after. Delhi resembled a gas chamber with particulate matter (PM)10 and PM2.5—the two deadliest components of air pollution—at over eight times the safe limit. The AQI value in 2015 was at an alarming 343 on Diwali and it was 360 th very next day.
Even very poor quality is considered very hazardous, people are asked to avoid all outdoor physical activities and stay indoors as much as possible. AQI level from 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate, 201-300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor, and 401 and above is severe.
However, there is not much to rejoice as Delhi witnessed a thick haze and noise on Diwali night dashing the hopes of cracker-free festivities.
A huge spike in air quality was noticed at different spots in the city. Anand Vihar, the most polluted spot in Delhi, had the highest PM10 reading at 2402 microgram per cubic metre, according to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee real-time monitoring. At 11pm in RK Puram, PM10 read 1179 while PM2.5, the finer particulate matter, was 878 microgram per cubic metre, the highest across all DPCC stations this Diwali. The permissible limit of PM10 and PM2.5 are 100 and 60 microgram per cubic metre.
Real time pollution data appeared alarming. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s (DPCC) RK Puram monitoring station recorded PM2.5 and PM10 at 878 and 1,179 micrograms per cubic metre at around 11 pm.
The pollutants had violated the corresponding 24-hour safe limits of 60 and 100 respectively by up to 10 times.
While it is difficult to quantify the immediate effect of the ban on firecrackers, residents across the national capital felt the beginning was promising with neighbourhoods reporting much lesser noise and smoke till about 6 pm, compared to the previous years.
But as the festivities picked up, the faint echo of crackers started growing louder. According to the SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research), the 24-hour rolling average of PM2.5 and PM10 were 154 and 256 micrograms per cubic metre respectively at around 11 pm. It has forecast that the pollution levels will peak between 11 pm and 3 am.
