With favourable weather changes pulling down air pollution in the city, the air quality index (AQI) in the NCR cities of Noida, Ghaziabad and Greater Noida have remained in the ‘satisfactory’ and ‘poor’ categories for over half a month now.

The AQI, as recorded by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), last went above ‘very poor’, 24 days ago, on Feb 14.

The AQI in Ghaziabad on Sunday was 195 and in Greater Noida was 139, both in the ‘moderate’ category. It was marginally lower in Noida at 138,also in the ‘moderate’ category. The only day during the month of February when AQI reached ‘severe’ level in Noida was February 13 at 402. Similarly, the AQI was severe in Ghaziabad only on one day, on February 5, when it touched 429.

Officials said the pollution level has been under control since the beginning of February and is unlikely to climb anytime soon.

The AQI on Saturday was 218 in Ghaziabad, 200 in Greater Noida and 186 in Noida.

“The air quality reaches very poor to severe categories during the winter months owing to the lower temperature, fog and low wind speed. This is exacerbated by stubble burning in some states bordering NCR and also the pollution from firecrackers during Diwali. We are seeing much better weather conditions now,” Anil Singh, regional officer of UPPCB, Noida, said.

He said with the temperature slowly going up, the air quality is likely to stabilise and may not reach severe levels unless there are serious weather changes.

“We have had the local contributors under control and are taking strict action against violators. We have seen that most times, when the air quality worsened or peaked in Noida, it was due to the impact of polluted air from neighbouring areas reaching Delhi-NCR,” Singh said.

With better air quality, officials are now shifting focus to water pollution complaints and have recently sealed six illegal textile dyeing units.

The UPPCB may soon conducts tests of water samples from Shahdara and Kondli drains and write to the Delhi authorities again regarding controlling the discharge of contaminated water in these two drains.

According to officials, contaminated water enters Noida from Delhi through both these drains and eventually end up in river Yamuna.

“We had conducted tests at multiple points in Noida in October, including the entry point into the city, and the point where the drains empty into the Yamuna. We have noted that there is hardly any addition of polluted water in Noida. We will be conducting similar tests again soon,” Singh said.

According to UPPCB officials, several older reports mention that industrial as well as domestic waste is dumped into the Shahdara and Kondli drains.

Noida authority has also written to Delhi officials on previous occasions asking them to control pollution in the drains.

The drains may be contaminating groundwater in Noida as well polluting the Yamuna, officials said.

First Published: Mar 11, 2019 03:17 IST