Chandigarh’s air quality dips to ‘poor’, experts blame it on farm fires

Dushyant Singh Pundir

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Chandigarh, November 8

As the city remained engulfed in a blanket of smog for the second consecutive day today, the quality of air dipped to worrying levels, causing discomfort to residents, especially the aged, children and patients.

The city’s average air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 247 (poor), deteriorating from 157 (moderate) registered on Monday. Also, the PM-10 level stood at 365 (very poor) and PM 2.5 235 (poor).

An increase in the AQI causes breathing discomfort to people on prolonged exposure. An AQI between 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 and 500 as ‘severe’.

The increase in fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) level in the city’s air is a matter of concern, as it can harm people the most. PM 2.5 are tiny particles in the air that reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy when levels are elevated. PM 10 is any particular matter in air with a diameter of 10 micrometers (µm) or less, including smoke, dust, soot, salts, acids and metals.

Dr Ravindra Khaiwal, environment scientist at the PGI, said stubble burning along with bursting of firecrackers had added to higher pollution and poor AQI levels. He further said clouds and moisture along with lower temperature and increased air pollution were helping build a thin layer of smog.

Nearly 648 fire anomalies were reported in Punjab and 15 in Haryana today, he said.

An official of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) said stubble burning in adjacent areas and crackers’ smoke coupled with higher relative humidity and lower wind speed created smog in the city. He further said the smog was created after the particular matter (PM) settled down with high humidity along with low wind speed.

“Eco-friendly farming practices along with responsible festival celebrations can help improve the quality of air,” he added. Debendra Dalai, Chief Conservator of Forest and Director Environment, UT, said most of the factors such as volume of traffic remained the same across the city and winters had not started yet.

It meant stubble burning was the sole cause of the blanket of smog across the city, he said. Thousands of tonnes of toxic gases are released from the burning stubble, which affects Chandigarh owing to suitable wind conditions. Besides, there is the effect of the weather as not all dust particles are able to fly in the cold and freeze in the air, thus increasing the level of pollution.