Noida: Despite work from home and schools remaining closed in 2021, the first quarter of calendar year 2020 was cleaner than this year.
A close look at the two most polluted stations, one in Ghaziabad and another in Noida, shows that Loni had 10 ‘severe’ days in January this year compared to just three and Sector 116 had five ‘severe’ air days this year compared to just three in the same month last year.
The maximum AQI of January last year at Loni, which is an industrial belt, was 435 compared to 479 in 2021. In February, the Loni station registered 14 ‘very poor’ days and a maximum 386 AQI but not a single ‘severe’ day. In February this year, there were four ‘severe’ air days and the maximum AQI was 424. March last year saw nine ‘poor’ days with a maximum AQI of 283.
This year, March had 10 ‘very poor’ days and the maximum AQI registered in the month at Loni was 385. An AQI till 50 is considered good, till 100 it is satisfactory, till 200 it is moderate, till 300 it is poor, till 400 it is very poor and above 400 it is considered severe.
A similar comparison of AQI for Sector 116 shows three ‘severe’ air days in January 2020 compared to five in 2021 and the maximum AQI this year was also higher than last year.
In February, Sector 116 had six ‘very poor’ days while in 2021, there were only three ‘severe’ air days in the same month. In March this year, Sector 116 had seven ‘very poor’ days and a maximum AQI of 367 compared to four ‘poor’ days in 2020.
Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UPPCB at Ghaziabad, said, “Even though this year most people were working from home and no school buses were plying, there are multiple reasons for the worsening AQI. While a part of it is due to metrological factors, high level of construction activity is also another reason.”
The Sector 116 air quality monitoring station is located near Noida Extension, which is one of the most polluted areas of Greater Noida because of continuous construction activity and hence the bad air, said Praveen Kumar, RO of UPPCB Noida.
Recently, a study conducted by Swiss Organisation, IQAir, deemed Ghaziabad the second-most polluted city in the world and Bisrakh Jalalpur in Noida Extension the fourth most polluted area in the world.