GURUGRAM: The city this year breathed the cleanest air on Diwali in five years, and the Supreme Court’s order to allow only sale of green crackers in Delhi and NCR definitely had a role to play. But the quality index (AQI) and particulate matters — both PM 2.5 and PM 10 — went up sharply the morning after, on Thursday, and were almost as bad as that on the day after Diwali in 2017.While the air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 212 (poor) on Diwali this year in Gurugram, it stood at 283 (poor) in 2017, 317 (very poor) in 2016, 234 (poor) in 2015 and 260 (poor) in 2014. However, on Thursday —the day after Diwali— the AQI shot up to 389 (very poor). Last year, the AQI was recorded at 397 (very poor) the day after Diwali, while it was 298 (poor) in 2016, 364 (very poor) in 2015 and 292 (poor) in 2014.At 6am on Thursday, the PM10 level in the city was recorded at 622 micrograms per cubic metre, and the level of PM2.5 was measured at 512 micrograms per cubic metre. While the level of PM10 was six times higher than that of the permissible limit (100 micrograms per cubic metre), the level of PM2.5 was around nine times higher than that of the limit, which is 60 micrograms per cubic metre. On Thursday morning, the AQI reached the ‘hazardous’ category but the level came down to ‘very poor’ by evening. At 4pm, the AQI was recorded at 389 (very poor).An official of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) said air pollution levels saw a decline this year during Diwali despite unfavourable metrological factors.“It should be noted that there was less pollution this year on Diwali and the day after as compared to the last year, even though the wind speed was lower than that of the last year. Also, the biometric pressure this year is higher than that of the last year. Considering all these factors, we can confidently say that the authorities have been able to keep a strict check on the man-made factors such as construction activities, bursting of crackers and waste burning, which are responsible for triggering an increase in pollution levels,” said Kuldeep Singh, regional officer, HSPCB.Singh also said water sprinkling across the city also paid off on the day after Diwali. “I inspected a few locations wherein the MCG sprinkled water, which helped disperse particulate matters from the lower atmosphere,” he said.Experts, on the other hand, said the decline in the level of air pollution was very negligible. “The situation is definitely better than last year. However, it has not improved in terms of impacts on public health. One can smell chemical compounds as soon as he or she steps out. This happens because of the combination of a lot of factors, including crop stubble burning, metrological activities along with cracker bursting,” said Priyanka Kulshreshtha, former professor of environmental management and sustainable development at DU and a member of Indian Pollution Control Association.Niranjan Raje, a former member of EPCA, said if there were a blanket ban on sale of crackers, the situation would have been better. “Even though pollution levels were lower this Diwali, levels of pollutants in the air increased on Thursday.”Sub-divisional magistrate Sanjeev Singla, who has been appointed the nodal officer to check implementation of graded response action plan in Gurugram, told TOI, “We formed a dedicated team to keep a check on anti-pollution activities. We will continue to monitor the situation till November 10.”

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