LUCKNOW: As air pollution soared to ‘severe’ level with the drop in temperature and wind velocity in the past 24 hours, the city on Sunday became the second most polluted one in the country.
As temperatures started declining, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of the state capital witnessed an alarming rise over the past four days from 198 (moderate) on Thursday to 406 on Sunday.
As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, Lucknow’s AQI was second to Muzaffarpur in Bihar that recorded AQI of 453. These two cities were the only ones of the 124 monitored by CPCB with AQI above 400 (severe) levels. Total seven UP cities figured in the top 10 most polluted, but their air quality was in “very poor” category. The AQI of Moradabad was 391, Varanasi 358, Kanpur, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad 346 each and Noida 333.
Experts said formation of smog, a combination of fog and air pollutants, coupled with wind velocity dip is responsible for rise in AQI.
“Fog formation increased as mercury dropped gradually in the past three days. Simultaneously, high speed winds were dispersing air pollutants earlier but have slowed down. This led to the increase in centration of pollutants in the air,” they said.
The state capital had witnessed similar high air pollution levels in December first week also with AQIs being 420, 441 and 414 on December 3, 4 and 5 respectively.