BHUBANESWAR: With air quality deteriorating in many key urban regions of the state, the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has asked all urban local bodies (ULBs) to take appropriate measures to check dust pollution to minimise the winter crisis.
The board has asked the ULBs to prevent burning of waste at random places in their jurisdiction to prevent the situation from worsening further in the coming days.
As per the Central Pollution Control Board statistics, air quality index (AQI) of some of the major urban areas in the state continues to remain in the range of poor and very poor.
AQI of Angul was ‘very poor’ on Friday and ‘poor’ on Saturday with the index value of particulate matter (PM) 2.5, a major pollutant, in the industrial town fluctuating in the range of 319 to 230 milligram per cubic meter (mg/m3) during the two days.
Bhubaneswar also continues log ‘poor’ AQI with the value of PM 2.5 in city remaining around 250 mg/m3 on Friday and 212 mg/m3 on Saturday.
The AQI level in Vyasanagar, Cuttack and Balasore that remained ‘poor’ on Friday recorded a marginal improvement and stood ‘moderately poor’ as the index value of PM 2.5 in the three urban areas fell below 200 mg/m3.
A senior official from the OSPCB said pollution level witnessed in major urban areas of the state, especially in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul, Talcher and a few other places, is a temporary phenomenon primarily resulted from dust, smoke and lack of wind during winter.
The smoke and dust particles getting suspended into air due to vehicular movement or construction work takes a longer time to settle due to lack of wind leading to increase in the pollution level in these cities. He said the ULBs concerned have been asked to follow the advisory and expedite preventive measures deal with the situation effectively.
AQI
Very poor to poor - Angul
Poor - Bhubaneswar
Moderately poor - Vyasanagar, Cuttack, Balasore
Advisory - Prevent burning of waste at random places