Noida: With the wind picking up speed, air quality in the city improved significantly from seven consecutive ‘very poor' Air Quality Index (AQI) days to ‘moderate' on Thursday. Air quality plummeted to 300, sitting on the threshold of turning hazardous, on Wednesday allegedly due to unchecked construction and demolition activities and farm fires. On Thursday, it was 169.
In Ghaziabad, where air quality was in the ‘red' — AQI touched 305 which falls in the ‘very poor' category — a day ago, breathed easy as the dust concentration cleared up.On Thursday, the city's AQI was 272, which was better than the last two days. Loni and Vasundhara remained the most polluted spots, where PM2.5 concentration touched 384 and 360, respectively.
Greater Noida's air quality also improved marginally — from Wednesday's 254 to 214 on the day —but remained in the ‘poor' category.
Capital's air quality, however, continued to stay in the ‘very poor' category for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, with an AQI of 306, according to Central Pollution Control Board's bulletin released at 4 pm. However, it improved slightly and entered the ‘poor' category with an AQI of 300 at 6 pm after winds picked up during the daytime. AQI further dropped to 295 at 7 pm.
A bulletin released by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) said wind speeds ranged between 8 and 16 kmph on Thursday. It predicted that wind would originate from the northwest and northeast directions in Delhi and speed between 4 and 18 kmph on Friday. The air quality is likely to remain ‘poor' too, but may deteriorate again to ‘very poor' from Saturday onwards. It may turn ‘severe' during Diwali.
Delhi-NCR's air quality worsens post-Diwali due to added emissions from firecrackers and stubble burning. Since winter conditions usually set in during Diwali, unfavourable meteorological conditions, including calm winds, low temperatures and low boundary layer height, hamper the process of dispersion of pollutants.
CPCB's data since 2015 shows that AQI has consistently increased the day after Diwali in seven out of the past eight years, with the exception of 2022. In 2022, strong winds on Diwali day helped the dispersion of pollutants and improved air quality.
Due to the recent rise in pollution, Graded Response Action Plan-II came into force earlier this week.
UPPCB regional officer (Noida) Utsav Sharma, meanwhile, told TOI the department has upped enforcement drives. "We imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on a developer in Sector 62 on the day, while another in Sector 145 was fined Rs 5 lakh for GRAP violations. Our teams found the realtors had left construction materials uncovered at the site. The dust mitigation measures were also found wanting," the officer said.
Three other contractors in Sector 132, and one each in sectors 132 and 126 were fined Rs 50,000 each for similar violations. Noida Authority said its 14 teams also carried out inspections at 85 locations on Thursday. As part of the efforts to mitigate dust pollution, 45 tankers sprinkled STP water on 145 kilometres of roads in Noida. Additionally, 12 mechanical sweeping machines covered 340 kilometres of roads. The Authority deployed anti-pollution measures by installing 102 anti-smog guns at various construction sites.
On Thursday, it collected 552 tonnes of construction and demolition waste and transported it for processing at a remediation site.