Jalandhar gasps for breath

The past two days of Diwali festivities plummeted the air quality of the district to a new low. Jalandhar became the second most-polluted district in the state after Amritsar.

While the city witnessed a moderate average air quality index (AQI) points all through the paddy harvest season, the average AQI fell to ‘poor’ category in the past two days.

On October 31, the city saw its worst average air quality of this season. The maximum AQI reached the severely polluted level at 500, while the average AQI was 237. Even the industrial city of Ludhiana fared better with 206 average AQI and 441 the maximum. Today, Jalandhar recorded ‘poor’ average AQI at 211 while the maximum was 482 (until 5 pm).

Over 100 farm fires were reported from Jalandhar and Kapurthala in the past four days. Of the 27 incidents in the past four days, 22 were reported in past two days only. Kapurthala saw 78 farm fires in the past two days — 43 today and 35 a day before.

Officials said bursting of crackers and farm fires from neighbouring districts were all contributing to deterioration of air quality in Jalandhar on Diwali night. People complained of cough, watery eyes, itchy and irritated throats.

Sandeep Kumar, environmental engineer, PPCB, Jalandhar, said, “The average air quality on Diwali this year was considerably better than last year. High pollution levels could be due to stubble burning in neighbouring districts. Bursting of crackers added to the air pollution.”