New Delhi/Lucknow Nov 5: After the rampant cracker bursting on Diwali despite restrictions in place, air quality deteriorated in many parts of India, including the national capital where it was the poorest in five years post the festival with a rise in stubble burning in neighbouring states compounding the pollution woes.
Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai blamed the BJP, alleging that the saffron party instigated people to defy the ban on firecrackers, as the city’s air quality index (AQI) entered the ‘severe’ category on Diwali night and continued its upward trend to reach 462 at noon on Friday.
Hitting back, Delhi BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal said that Diwali is a festival of Hindus and not of a political party and asked if the Hindus who are with Rai’s Aam Aadmi Party are not allowed to celebrate their festival.
The 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) the day after Diwali was 435 last year, 368 in 2019; 390 in 2018; 403 in 2017 and 445 in 2016.
As a thick layer of acrid smog enveloped the Delhi-NCR region throughout the day, blotting out the sun, the 24-hour AQI was the highest in the country in Noida at 475, while others – Faridabad (469), Greater Noida (464), Ghaziabad (470), Gurgaon (472) – also recorded ‘severe’ air pollution levels.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), several other cities and districts in the country recorded severe AQI — Agra, Baghpat, Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh; Ballbhgarh, Bhiwani, Hisar, Jind, Panipat, Rohtak in Haryana and Bhiwadi in Rajasthan.
Among the districts and cities where the AQI was ‘very poor’ were — Ambala in Haryana; Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota in Rajasthan, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Gorakhpur in UP, Jalandhar in Punjab and Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
The AQI was in the poor category in Kolkata and Howrah in West Bengal; Patiala in Punjab and Patna in Bihar along with other districts in various states.
The 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic metre at 6 PM on Thursday (Diwali day) to 410 micrograms per cubic metre at 9 AM on Friday, around seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
Experts said the air quality turned severe in Delhi-NCR owing to unfavourable meteorological conditions — calm winds, low temperature and low mixing height — and a poisonous cocktail of emissions from firecrackers, stubble burning and local sources.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences’ air quality forecast agency SAFAR, stated that stubble burning accounted for 36 percent of Delhi’s PM2.5 on Friday, the highest so far this season.
“A large number of people did not burst firecrackers. I thank them all. But some people burst firecrackers on purpose. I categorically say the BJP instigated them to do it,” Rai told reporters.
The minister said the number of farm fires has risen to 3,500 and its impact is visible in Delhi.
Ahead of the festive season, the Delhi government had announced a complete ban on firecrackers till January 1, 2022, and ran an aggressive campaign against their sale and use.
The Delhi Police arrested 281 people — 138 for selling and supplying firecrackers and 143 for bursting them — between September 29 and Diwali on Thursday, according to data provided by the force.
Concerned citizens and environment activists shared pictures and videos of fireworks on social media and called the ban on crackers a “joke”.
“I will shock you by saying that the only thing good about this morning is this event because the weather outside is not good at all,” Supreme Court judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat quipped at a book launch while referring to the spike in air pollution level in the national capital.
The air quality status in Chennai was very poor with a substantial increase in pollutants in the metropolis when compared to the previous year, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board said. (PTI)
