Air quality in industrial areas shows improvement

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, May 7

The lockdown might have slowed down economic activities in the industrial areas but air quality in the industrial areas has shown marked improvement.

Himachal has the fourth-highest number of seven towns — Baddi, Damtal, Kala Amb, Nalagarh, Paonta Sahib, Parwanoo and Sunder Nagar — which figure in the list of non-attainment cities of the nation. Their ambient particulate matter was rated poor by the Central Pollution Control Board on a continuous basis since 2011.

As per the air monitoring done by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) the level of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM), which is particulate matter having diameter less than 2.5 micrometers, in the housing board area of Baddi has reduced from 125 micrograms per cubic meter (MPCM) registered in January to 71.2 MPCM in April while in Parwanoo sector IV it saw a dip from 48.7 MPCM to 37.9 MPCM on May 1. In Sundernagar town the RSPM level reduced from 72 MPCM in January to 40 MPCM on May 1 while in the industrial town of Paonta Sahib it has seen a sizeable dip from 75.9 MPCM to 49.3 MPCM in May. Una town has registered a marked improvement from 60.6 MPCM recorded in January to less than half at 27.6 MPCM in May.

Swati Sharma, a Baddi resident, said: “Perceptible change in environment was visible in all parameters like particulate matter and nitrogen oxide.”

Induction furnaces/boilers/ thermic fluid heaters etc. (having particulate matter – PM, oxides of sulphur and oxides of nitrogen as pollutant) are the major cause of air pollution from industries.

Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board, Aditya Negi said, “It was a welcome relief to see improvement in the air quality in the non-attainment towns after a long time. The staff was endeavouring to improve air quality as per an action plan chalked out by involving allied departments.”