At 162, air quality index improves

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 8

The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) recorded 162 as the city’s air quality index (AQI) on Diwali night which is half than that of the last year. In 2017, the PPCB had recorded it 318.

PPCB officials said residents burst less crackers this time in the city. Meanwhile, the average noise pollution remained at 67.5 dBa in commercial areas, 63.1 dBa in residential areas and 65 dBa in silence zone on the night of Diwali festival. Officials of the PPCB claimed that the air and noise pollution was comparatively low than the previous years but more than the normal days.

Vinod Kumar, JE, Punjab Pollution Control Board, said, “We have installed Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System at three locations, i.e. residential, commercial and sensitive zone (hospital and schools). The data has been compiled at the laboratory in Jalandhar. We observed that pollution was less than that of previous years.”

The recent rain made the situation better, but officials of various departments praised the government for taking stern steps to control the sale and use of firecrackers. Residents witnessed smog on Thursday morning and also felt respiratory problems.

“The weather conditions are better than those of last year. Timely rain removed the smog. Very few cases of stubble burning have been reported. As far as Diwali is concerned, residents spent same amount on crackers that they do usually, but this time the crackers were costly. It may have some affect on the pollution,” said Jatinderpal Singh, a resident of New Amritsar.