››DIWALI LESS POLLUTING IN PUNJAB THIS YEAR,

Rise in air pollution in select cities on the festival came down to 20% against 40% in 2017; also, 3,466 straw fires reported on Wednesday

PATIALA: Even as people burst crackers well beyond the time limit set by the Supreme Court, still Punjab witnessed a dip in air pollution rise this Diwali as compared to the previous year.

The air quality index data of Punjab Pollution Control Board shows that the rise in air pollution in select cities came down to 20% against 40% in 2017.

As per the data of continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, Mandi Gobindgarh and Patiala, the average air quality index (AQI) of Punjab was 234 and it was 328 in 2017, a decrease of 29%.

PPCB chairman Prof SS Marwaha said awareness campaign against bursting of crackers launched by the government and non-government organisations have started showing results.

He said that last year the average PM10 was 430µgm/m3 and PM2.5 was 226µgm/m3,, whereas this year the figures stood at 277µgm/m3 and 126µgm/m3, respectively. There was 36% and 44% reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 levels, respectively, than the previous year.

He attributed it to the school and college students who had said no to firecrackers.

Despite improvement in air pollution on Diwali, the AQI jumped from moderate to the poor level. “AQI was bound to increase due to large-scale bursting of crackers. Firecrackers were used much less this year than the previous years, but even that much are not good for the environment”, said PPCB spokesman Charanjit Singh.

Despite orders of the Supreme Court to burst crackers between 8pm to 10pm only, they were used till midnight. In many cities, including Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar, police have registered FIRS under Section 188 of the IPC against the violators.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of Diwali, farmers in some areas burnt the paddy straw and then gave it the colour of accidental fire. The number of paddy straw fire incidents on Wednesday stood at 3,466, the second highest for a single day this season.

Now, overall farm fire incidents till November 7 have reached 33,687, which were nearly 38,000 on the corresponding day last year.