Ghaziabad: Monday gave the residents of Gautam Budh Nagar a breather from the heavily polluted days the district has been experiencing since more than a week, with the air quality coming down slightly due to the dispersal of pollutants. Weather experts attributed the dispersal to wind speeds picking up, which they said is likely to stay till November 4.

According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)’s data, the air quality index (AQI) of Noida was 299 on Monday, just about enough to make it to the “poor” category, however, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad were at 310 and 355 on Monday, respectively, still inside the “very poor”. While Noida and Greater Noida’s AQI on Monday was the lowest the two cities have seen in the past 11 days, Ghaziabad’s AQI on Monday was its lowest in past six days; on October 23, Noida and Greater Noida were at 369 and 381 on the AQI scale, respectively, while Ghaziabad, on October 28 was at 317 on the AQI scale.

Noida’s AQI on Sunday had reached the upper echelons of the “very poor” category with a reading of 384. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”. “The average wind speed on Monday stood in the range of 12-15 kmph and helped in speedier dispersal of pollutants. Wind speed is likely to remain the same for the next two days, until November 4,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, head of India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi. Meanwhile the Sanjay Nagar monitoring station is proving to be a challenge for Ghaziabad authorities, which remained under the “severe” category on Monday as well as Sunday. Officials of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) said that this could be the result of scant water sprinkling nearby.

“The “severe” AQI level could be the result of inadequate water sprinkling on Sunday at pollution sources near the monitoring station. We have observed that AQI deteriorated during the peak hour timings when there is a rush of vehicles owing to the festive season. This could be one of the reasons for the deterioration,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of the UPPCB. “On the other hand, water sprinkling activities have also been intensified at the Loni monitoring station, where the AQI came down to the “very poor” category on Monday, as compared to the “severe” category on Sunday,” he added.

The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar), a private weather forecasting agency, in a bulletin Monday said that improved wind conditions led to better ventilation during the night, which was so far limited to the day time. “A marginal deterioration is forecasted for November 3 and 4 towards the middle of the “very poor” category. However, the Safar synergised stubble fire counts over Punjab, Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand and neighbouring areas impacting Delhi air stood at 3,045 yesterday (Sunday). The stubble burning share in PM 2.5 has significantly decreased and is estimated as 16% for today (Monday),” the Safar forecast added.

On Sunday, the contribution of stubble-burning to PM2.5 levels in the Delhi region this season’s high of 40% but declined to 16% on Monday.

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