Lucknow’s air quality ‘very poor’
People burning trash and household waste in the open, which adds to air pollution
LUCKNOW: The air quality index (AQI) in Lucknow was registered under ‘very poor’ category on Sunday with the fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) level touching the 385 micrograms per cubic metre air mark.
The permissible limit is 60 micrograms per cubic metre air.
The air quality in Lucknow was even worse than the national capital Delhi, where it was recorded in ‘very poor’ category and the fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) level reaching 351 micrograms per cubic metre air at 4 pm.
On November 13, the PM 2.5 level in Lucknow had touched a new high of 695.97 micrograms per cubic metre air.
Despite poor air quality, people in the city are still engaged in burning trash and household waste in the open, which is further adding to the air pollution.
Though the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) has imposed a ban on burning trash in the open, people are still violating it, unmindful of the pollution they are causing.
The Met department has predicted clear sky for Monday with mist/fog very likely in the morning. Maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 25 and eight degrees Celsius respectively.
Overall in Uttar Pradesh , the weather is likely to be dry, with shallow to moderate fog likely at isolated places over the state.
On Sunday, Lucknow’s maximum temperature was recorded at 24.6 degrees Celsius while the minimum temperature was eight degrees.
On Tuesday, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court accepted five public interest litigation petitions (PILs) on increasing air pollution levels in Lucknow and clubbed them together for a combined hearing after three weeks.
A bench of Chief Justice, Uttar Pradesh, Dilip Babasaheb Bhosale, and Justice Vivek Chaudhary passed the order.
Lawyer Gaurav Gupta is among the five litigants. Gupta’s PIL explained in detail all aspects of air pollution in the state capital.
He has also suggested remedies for tackling it.
In the PIL, Gupta stated that Lucknow’s air quality had been constantly under ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’ category due to a high concentration of micro-pollutants and this needed to be addressed with urgency.