City wakes up to filthiest air in 4 years

Ludhiana: A day after a large section of people resorted to cracker show on Gurpurb, Ludhiana reported poorest air quality in a day in the past four years, with air quality index (AQI) going past 400-mark on Wednesday.
Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) officials said such high AQI was mainly because of bursting of crackers and continuous stubble burning.
According to the bulletin released by Central Pollution Control Board, Ludhiana’s AQI on Wednesday stood at 408, which comes under “severe” air quality which can “affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases.” The city had reported higher AQI in a day than the present value on June 14, 2018 (488).
As compared to Tuesday, the AQI in Ludhiana went up by 57 points on Wednesday.
At AQI value of 408, Ludhiana was at number two spot among the cities in Punjab after Khanna that recorded highest AQI at 417.
Patiala’s AQI was 368 and Jalandhar had an AQI value of 333. Bathinda had lowest AQI value among cities in the state at 165.
Data since October 20 said Ludhiana’s AQI value on October 20 was 134 which increased to 188 on October 23 and dropped slightly to 179 next day (on Diwali). A day after Diwali (on October 25), the AQI value increased to 300 (which was highest during the ongoing year) and next day the AQI decreased to 285 before dropping to 163 on October 29. It increased to 284 the next day and but dipped to 210 on October 31. In ongoing November, AQI value in Ludhiana was 288 on November 1, which increased to 319 before dropping to 207 on November 6.
PPCB officials said the situation has reached this level due to cracker bursting on Diwali and Gurpurb and continuous stubble burning for the past many days. The air quality will not improve till air pollutants disappear due to wind or washed away in rain.
Meanwhile, residents had a tough time with air quality turning severe. “On Gurpurb, burning of crackers is not mandatory. In fact, we will request the Akal Takht jathedar to issue a hukmnama (sacred order), asking community members not to burst crackers on Gurpurb from next year,” said Dr Amandeep Bains, a city resident and founder of RBS (Rajguru Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev) Roots, an organisation which works for clean and green Ludhiana. He said elderly and children suffer a lot because of high pollution levels.