The ambient air quality took a hit in the town and suburban areas on Deepavali day because of bursting of crackers.
The High-Level Sampler set up at Jaya Nagar in Reddiarpalayam and Bharathi Street in Mudaliarpet to monitor air quality had recorded higher presence of particulate matter than the prescribed limit of 100 ug/m3.
The air quality monitoring report showed that the concentration of particulate matter was 124 ug/m3 on Deepavali day as against 61 ug/m3 on a normal day.
However, the quality of air was much better than last year’s Deepavali. The concentration of particulate matter on the festival day in 2017 was 180 ug/m3. The value of particulate matter had come down by 31% this year, said a communication from the Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC).
According to the reading in Karaikal, the concentration of particulate matter was 73 ug/m3 as against 52 ug/m3 reported on normal days. Other aspects such as sulphuric oxide and oxides of nitrogen which were used as parameter to check air quality were under the prescribed limit of 80 ug/m3.
Noise level up
Similarly, the noise level went marginally high in the town and suburban areas. The noise meters kept at Jaya Nagar and Bharathi Street found the level going up to 87.2 decibel levels (db) as against 74.2 (db) on normal days. The main reason for high decibel level was bursting of crackers and frequent movement of two-wheelers. On normal days, ambient noise level was only due to vehicular movement, the communication said.
Director of PPCC R. Smitha said the analysis of data collected in the last few years revealed that the value of particulate matter on Deepavali day had been keeping a moderate level.
The committee would recommend to the government to take more proactive steps to bring the level to the satisfactory limits in the coming festival seasons, she said.