BHUBANESWAR: Air quality in the Capital City was ‘moderately polluted’ on Diwali night, slightly better than the previous year, said Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) officials on Tuesday. Officials said the enforcement and regulation of timing of bursting firecrackers partially helped in keeping pollution level of the city in check.
As per the air quality monitoring data analysed by the OSPCB crackers fired to air led to a sudden increase in the levels of different pollutants such as particulate matters (PM), ground-level ozone (O3), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NO2) and Ammonia (NH3) in Bhubaneswar.
The level of PM10, a prominent pollutant in the air, jumped to an average 169 milligram per cubic metre (mg/m3) in the city on Diwali night compared to the average of 108 mg/m3 on the pre-monitoring day of October 18.
The air quality plunged to poor and nearly poor under Capital Police and Khandagiri police limits as the PM10 level in both the areas remained 212 mg/m3 and 195 mg/m3 respectively.
Similarly, sulphur dioxide (SO2), that was Below Detection Limit (BDL) on the pre-monitoring day, remained in the range of 4.9 to 7.6 mg/m3 in four out of six monitoring stations. Its level even jumped to 9.6 mg/m3 and 10.9 mg/m3 in Khandagiri and IRC-Village respectively.
The PM2.5 level too increased to 67 mg/m3 against the average 38 mg/m3 on the pre-monitoring day. At 80 mg/m3 the level of this pollutant was the highest in Palasuni area on Diwali night.
The level of O3, NO2 and NH 3 also recorded moderate increase during Diwali celebrations in all six monitoring stations across the city.
The Central Pollution Control Board has divided the Air Quality Index into six categories in which a score between 0 and 50 is considered safe, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and above 400 as severe.