HYDERABAD: The city saw excessive pollution levels on Diwali for a few hours, with air being filled heavily with particulate matter from 5pm to 3am the next day. An analysis of both the CPCB’s National Air Quality Index and World Air Pollution website (WAQI) shows that both PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels went up to nearly five times the normal levels.
The AQI was averaging around 80-100 across different stages which is considered "satisfactory". A correct picture of the extent of pollution is however difficult to ascertain as three of the six stations monitoring pollution were down for part of the day.
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. This was seen around 8pm on Thursday and it slowly fell post 3am on Friday morning.
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 was 180 and 153.
The Hyderabad Central University recorded maximum PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels of 170 and 115. This pollution monitoring system however went defunct and failed to record the pollution levels between 10pm and 1am.
Pattacnheru’s highest pollution levels were at 3am on Friday morning, with the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels very high at the time at 180 and 153 points respectively.
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 over the last few days.
The stations at Sanath Nagar and IDA Pashamlaram were also down. While the Sanath Nagar station was down from 6pm on Thursday to 12pm on Friday, the IDA Pashamylaram station located on the outskirts was down from 1am on Friday morning to 4am. For the previous hours, IDA Pashamylaram saw maximum PM 2.5 levels at 190 and PM 10 at 158.
Meanwhile, due to the prevailing weather conditions with strong winds and likelihood of rains, the pollution levels were quick to decline.