Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Tuesday claimed that lower pollution levels were recorded in the State during Diwali this year as compared to last year.
Without revealing details of pollution level data, a spokesman of HSPCB said that as a result of efforts made by the Board, a considerable reduction in air pollution level was recorded during Diwali this year.
He claimed that the comparative study of the data of the four CAAQMS shows that there is decline in particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NO), ozone (O3) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) in Gurgaon this year, as compared to the previous year.
Similarly, there is decline in PM, CO, O3 and SO2 in Bahadurgarh. The comparative results of Panchkula and Faridabad show that there is a decrease in O3 and SO2 levels in these cities as compared to the levels recorded on Diwali last year, said he.
According to the information, this year’s Diwali day (from 6 am on Wednesday to 6 am on Thursday, November 11) recorded 361.63 microgram per cubic metre of PM10 (particulate matters with diameter of 10 microns or less) on an average in Gurgaon, 166.24 microgram per cubic metre of PM10 in Rohtak and 126.64 microgram per cubic metre of PM10.
As per the data, the Diwali day in 2014 recorded an average of 77.92 microgram per cubic metre in Panckula. The permissible value of PM10 is 100 microgram per cubic metre.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the HSPCB said that the Board had organised awareness programmes urging people to celebrate cracker-free festival and to make them aware of the harmful effects of air pollution caused by burning of firecrackers.
He added that the HSPCB has installed four Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) at Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Panchkula to assess the air quality of these cities. These stations are located near places of public importance which are visible to the public easily.
The Board is monitoring and analysing the data regularly and keeps regular watch on those sources which cause and contribute in deteriorating the air quality, he added.