Air quality: State ignored warning signs for a mth

LUCKNOW: The state capital recorded the worst-on-the-scale `severe' category air quality for the second consecutive day on Thursday . According to

Central Pollution Control Board

(

CPCB

), which found the city's Air Quality Index (AQI) value to be 468 on the day , `severe' air quality is bad enough to affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing diseases.

An analysis of CPCB data, however, reveals that little was done to avert the situation even though warning bells started ringing exactly a month ago. On October 10, the city recorded `poor' air quality after a long hiatus (See graphic on Page P2).Since then, 27 out of 30 days have seen `poor' or worse (`very poor' and `severe') air quality .There were no days during this period when the city's air quality was `satisfactory' or `good'.

This contrasts sharply with the preceding month in which the city did not witness a single instance of poor air quality . In fact, on 10 days between September 10 and October 9, the air quality was either `satisfactory' or `good'. What makes the need for reforms more urgent in UP is the fact that five out of the 10 most polluted cities, as recorded on Thursday , are in the state.

Requesting anonymity , a UPPCB official, however, claimed there was little that could have been done locally to arrest the steady rise in air pollution because its source is not in the state.

“The air quality has deteriorated sharply primarily due to stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. Pollutants from these states have been brought to the city through westerly winds,“ said the official. CSIR-IITR director Alok

Dhawan

said other factors that might have contributed are poor wind velocity , high humidity and rise in wood and garbage burning in the open due to dipping mercury. He said while there was indeed cause for alarm, CPCB figures, which are an average from three monitoring stations, are not truly representative of any particular location in the city. Dhawan said it's about time the government starts taking punitive action. “Laws and guidelines need effective implementation“ he said.