Gurugram is the most polluted place in NCR

May 19th, 2018 admin Haryana 0 comments 5

The prevailing hot weather conditions, recurrent dust storms and lack of rainfall have pushed air quality into the ‘poor’ levels in Gurugram, making it the most polluted city in the National Capital Region (NCR).Officials of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) claimed increase in wind speed was mainly responsible for the rise in the PM2.5 concentration.

Pollution data shows both air quality index (AQI) and the PM2.5 level have been higher in Gurugram as compared to that in other NCR cities for the past three days.

While AQI was recorded at 340 and 299 on Thursday and Friday, respectively, the highest level of PM2.5 stood at 189µg/m³ and 178µg/m³ in the past two days in the city.

On the other hand, Delhi, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad reported AQI at 225, 226, 256 and 259, respectively, on Friday.

“Currently, only dust storms are responsible for the increase in PM2.5 levels. The problem is the rising wind speed leads to an increase in the concentration of particulate matter in the lower atmospheric level. Also, there has been hardly any rain over the past few days. As a result, pollutants are remaining in the atmosphere,” said Jai Bhagwan, regional officer, HSPCB.

The wind speed had come down to 0.67metre per second (mps) after the storm last Sunday. But after Tuesday’s storm, it shot up to 0.98mps on Wednesday and remained at 0.99mps on Thursday and Friday.

According to environmentalists, pollution rises in the city as soon as wind speed picks up. “Normally, high wind velocity helps bring down pollution levels. But in Gurugram, it increases the concentration of particulate matter as dust is lying everywhere. Most roads are dug up for construction. Even government agencies, like NHAI, have been flouting norms during construction,” said Niranjan Raje, a former member of EPCA.

Debjani Ghosh, an environmentalist, stressed the need for implementing GRAP (Graded Response Action Plan). “All civic bodies need to implement preventive measures and ban waste burning, sprinkle water in open places, use mechanised sweeping machines etc. to control dust pollution at the earliest,” he added.

But, Bhagwan said, “The GRAP measures will be implemented if the PM2.5 level remains in the ‘very poor’ category for some more time.”

Source: TimesofIndia