Rain brings air quality near Noida Towers back to pre-demolition levels

Rain brought relief for residents of Emerald Court, ATS Village and other housing societies located close to the now-demolished twin towers in Noida, as pollution level in the area had shot up five times post demolition. Monday evening showers settled the dust and brought down the pollution to pre-demolition levels.

For residents in surrounding areas, pollution emerged as the major concern after Supertech's twin towers Apex and Ceyane were successfully demolished on Sunday.

According to the data by Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), PM 10 and PM 2.5 increased by almost five times after the towers collapsed.

The 24-hour average for PM 10 was 64 on Saturday but increased to 338 on Sunday at one of the five air quality monitoring stations near the demolition site.

"While pollution has increased considerably, it reduced due to rain and wind speed," said Vikrant Tongad of Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE), who lives nearby. "However, demolition waste is another issue which authority needs to take care of."