Even as the City Beautiful witnessed bursting of firecrackers despite a blanket ban on sale and use of firecrackers, the air quality remained “moderate” during the festival of Diwali this year.
According to the data recorded by the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station here, the air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 140 (moderate) during this Diwali while the AQI was 341 (very poor) during the festival last year.
An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and 401-500 severe.
“The ambient air quality data recorded on Diwali day in 2020 is almost equivalent to the data captured on normal days before Diwali.
However, it has been observed during the past years that the AQI worsened drastically on Diwali day compared to the normal days recorded prior to Diwali. During 2019 the AQI on normal day was 110 compared to 341 on Diwali day,” said Debendra Dalai, Member Secretary, Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee and Director, Environment.
“Due to ban on sale and bursting on firecrackers this year, there is remarkable reduction in air pollution in comparison to last year despite of the fact that last year Diwali was on October 27 (when air pollution is comparatively less than November) while this year Diwali was on November 14,” the officer said.
“Similar remarkable observation has also been made in the ambient noise levels wherein maximum noise level recorded during Diwali day in 2020 as 66.6 dB(A) Leq against maximum value of 79.8 dB(A) Leq recorded during 2019,” he added.
Keeping in view the spread of COVID-19 and to avoid inconvenience to COVID affected persons and persons with other respiratory issues, the Administration had imposed a ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers in the union territory of Chandigarh till further orders.