Poorest air, coldest night give city a tough time

Ludhiana: Ludhiana witnessed poorest air since November 10 as air quality made it to ‘very poor’ bracket on Sunday. The value of air quality index, which is measure of air pollution in a geographical area, has been on the rise in the past few days.
According to the latest bulletin released by Central Pollution Control Board, the AQI in Ludhiana on Sunday was recorded at 332, which comes under ‘very poor’ category with possible health impacts such as “respiratory illness on prolonged exposure”. It was only on November 9 when the AQI value was 408.

On December 1, AQI value was recorded at 188 which increased to 299 on December 3, fell to 159 on December 5 before rising to 262 on December 9. The AQI value fell to 88 on December 13, which was lowest in the ongoing month.
Ludhiana’s AQI was highest (488) on June 14, 2018.
With AQI value of 332, Ludhiana was at number one spot among the cities in the state, with Amritsar at second spot with 304 and Jalandhar at number three position with 301 AQI value. Bathinda reported the lowest AQI among the cities on Sunday at 128.
Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) officials attributed the recent increase in AQI to weather. They said because of the cold wave, air pollutants are not dissipating which has resulted in rise in air pollution.
PPCB officials said the main factors for increase in air pollution is higher vehicular movement in the city and construction activity in Ludhiana.
Meanwhile, many residents have reported difficulties problems due to poor air. Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Pakhowal road said besides cold wave, they are struggling to breathe in polluted air.
At 3.8°C, city 2nd coldest in Punjab
Ludhiana witnessed the coldest night of the ongoing winter as the minimum temperature fell below 4°C on Sunday.
As per met department, the minimum (night) temperature in Ludhiana on Sunday was recorded at 3.8 degrees, which is 2.7 degrees less than normal. As per the data, second lowest night temperature in the ongoing winter was on Saturday(December 17) at 5.2°C.
With minimum temperature touching 3.8°C, Ludhiana was second coldest place among the cities in the state. Bathinda had lowest minimum temperature at3.6°C.
The maximum temperature was recorded at 20.3°C, which was 0.5 degrees lessthan normal. Till Saturday, the lowest day temperature in the ongoing winter was recorded at 22.4 on December 14.
The meteorological department official at Chandigarh said cold wave is expected to continue in Ludhiana on Monday and Tuesday as well. He said there might be dense fog in Ludhiana in the next two days.
The official said the day and night temperatures are expected to remain around the present values. He added that there are chances of western disturbance arriving in the state after three to four days which may bring change in the weather.
The department also said that the day temperature is expected to remain around 22°C in the next about six days whereas night temperature may rise to 6degrees by Tuesday.
Residents grapple in cold weather
“It was so cold during the night in the city last night that for the first time during the ongoing winter we had to switch on the heating system at home,” said Kuldeep Singh, a city resident.