Restrictions on bursting of crackers coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic could not bring down the high-spirited Punjabis who indulged in comparatively polluted Diwali this year. The state’s air quality was recorded in the “very poor” category, despite government allowing bursting of “only green crackers” for just two hours.
As per the data released by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), the state’s air quality index was recorded at 328 — in the “very poor” category — on Diwali day (November 14), against the figure of 293 — “poor” category — recorded in 2019.
However, the AQI (air quality index) value of the state’s industrial town Mandi Gobindgarh has witnessed a dip — from 311 in 2019 to 262 in 2020 — due to “complete ban” on the bursting of firecrackers in the state.
“The high value of AQI Diwali-2020 could be due to difference in the atmospheric conditions, like low temperature that is decrease of 19 percent — from 23 degree C in 2019 to 19 degree C in 2020 — prevailing during the season resulting in reduced dispersion of the pollutants,” said a PPCB official on Sunday.
Notably, Punjab Government has fixed a two-hour window — from 8 pm to 10 pm — for use of green firecrackers, except in Mandi Gobindgarh, where a total ban has been imposed from the midnight of November 9 till November 30 midnight on account of its poor AQI levels.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had, on Friday, appealed to the people to celebrate the festivals of Diwali and Bandi Chhor Diwas in a green, environment-friendly and COVID-safe manner.
He had also urged the people to refrain from bursting firecrackers altogether, even though the State Government had allowed a two-hour window in this regard, to check pollution, which could further aggravate the coronavirus situation.
However, the restrictions on bursting of crackers were completely flouted across the state. Moreover, it has been learnt that the banned crackers were also used openly almost everywhere in the State.
The Pioneer has learnt that the restrictions on crackers have turned out to be a failure in the State.
There was no authority to check the implementation of Chief Minister’s orders. Though the cases were registered at some places, it has been learnt that only “unnamed FIRs” were filed in every district.
A PPCB official said that the Board regularly conducts Diwali festival special monitoring across the State to know the impact of bursting of fire crackers.
“This year also State Pollution Control Board is conducting the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring at five locations for 24 days — that is seven days prior to Diwali and 17 days after Diwali — from November 7 to 30, 2020,” said the official.
The official said that six Continuous Ambient Air Monitoring stations, installed by PPCB in the State, provides the real time data.
The noise monitoring is being carried out on pre-Diwali day (November 9, 2020) and Diwali day (November 14, 2020).
“The Ambient Air Quality Monitoring (Manual) was conducted continuously at Patiala, Mandi Gobindgarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Amritsar for the different parameters — PM10, SO2, NO2 (metals in PM10 – Pb, Ni As, Al, Ba, Fe),” said the official.
The official said that the comparative real time data during Diwali 2019 and Diwali 2020 of continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations established at Amritsar, Jalandhar.
Ludhiana, Khanna, Mandi Gobindgarh, Patiala “shows that the minimum PM10 during previous year was 90 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3), and PM2.5 was 43 ug/m3, whereas this year, these are 118 ug/m3 and 90 ug/m3”.