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Bhubaneswar: A somewhat Happy Diwali for Odisha, at least in the Capital City. When the noise pollution in the peak hours (8 PM) on the D-day hovered at around 72, the bad news is the PM2.5 and PM10 level in the City shot up to 'very poor' and 'poor' level in the peak hours.
However, the big change observed this Diwali is unlike earlier years, the PM2.5 and PM10 levels in the air showed a big dip on the day after Diwali day.
When on a day after diwali in 2018, the value of PM2.5 and PM10 in city air stood at 79 microgram/m3 and 114 microgram/m3, respectively, the values this year are measured at 68 and 97 micrograms/m3, respectively.
As per State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) sources, the city witnessed significant dip in noise pollution as the maximum noise measured in the peak hours at 8 - 9 pm on Diwali day stood at 73 decibel (dB), the decibel further was muted to a normal level by 10 PM.
However, smokes ruled the city air till early morning of October 28, sources at SPCB revealed. The value of PM2.5 was measured higher at 113 micrograms/m3 at early morning hours (4 am) on Monday.
The worst fact, however, is the PM2.5 in the city air was measured at 'very poor' value of 300 micrograms/m3 at 8 pm on the D-day. And the PM10 value was measured at 326 micrograms/m3 at 8 hours on Diwali day.
Why the sudden spike is linked with diwali fireworks? As per SPCB sources, the PM2.5 value in the afternoon hours at 4 pm was mere 63 micrograms/m3, which suddenly spiked up to touch 282 micrograms/m3 at 6 hours in the evening of Diwali day. The standard norm of PM2.5 in air should be at 50 micrograms/m3.
Similarly, the value of PM10 shot up to 308 micrograms/m3 at 6 pm in the evening hours of Diwali from around 90 micrograms/m3 in the afternoon hours of 3- 4 pm. In contrast, the PM10 norm is specified at 67 micrograms/m3 for Bhubaneswar.
Significantly, as per Central Pollution Control Board Data, while the air of Temple town was far better than Kolkata, Vizag air was incredibly purer as the PM2.5 value was measured at mere 56 micrograms/m3 and PM10 at119 micrograms/m3 in the peak hours on the D-day.
As air quality index (AQI) deteriorates considerably in urban areas across the country a day after Diwali, https://t.co/wXXrLYjrVt's @raykasturi takes a look at places in #Odisha that saw a drop in air quality pic.twitter.com/bLFmXuEnI1
— OTV (@otvnews) October 28, 2019
