HYDERABAD: Hyderabad witnessed excessive pollution levels on Diwali day with air filled heavily with particulate matter between 5 pm on the day of festival and 3 am the next day. An analysis of both CPCB’s National Air Quality Index and World Air Pollution website (WAQI) shows that both PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels went up nearly five times higher than the normal levels. The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) averaged around 80 to 100 across different stages, which is considered “satisfactory” by CPCB standards. A correct picture of the extent of pollution is however difficult to ascertain as three of the six stations monitoring pollution were down at the time when crackers were burst.
The area which appears to be the worst hit was central Hyderabad with the AQI station located in the US Consulate area recording PM 2.5 index as high as 384, according to WAQI website. This was recorded around 8 pm on Thursday, the pollution level slowly dropping after post 3 am on Friday. According to the National Air Quality Index by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), at the Zoo Park pollution monitoring station, the PM 2.5 and PM 10 level were 180 and 153.
The Hyderabad Central University recorded a maximum PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels of 170 and 115 respectively. This pollution monitoring system, however, went defunct and failed to record the pollution levels between 10 pm and 1 am. In Patancheru, the highest pollution levels of 180 (PM 2.5) and 153 (PM 10) were recorded at 3 am on Friday. Normally, in these hours the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels range between 30-75 and even drop to as low as 15 points due to strong windy conditions prevailing in the last few days.
30 suffer injuries while bursting crackers
Post Diwali celebrations, around 30 cases of eye injuries caused due to bursting of crackers were reported at the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital on Friday. While only five out of those 30 odd patients have to be admitted in the hospital, a surgery had to be performed on one of the patients. Three children were also admitted with eye injuries.
No threat to eyesight
At LV Prasad Eye Hospital, patients with eye injuries started queuing up from November 3. Around 34 patients came to the hospital with serious injuries. However, in none of the cases, a threat to sight was reported. At Osmania GH, the situation was a little better as no serious cases were reported.