New Delhi: Confirming trends that emerged throughout the day, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) data showed that Diwali 2017 was less polluted than that of 2016.
According to the CPCB, the 24-hour average of PM 2.5, the most polluting particulate matter in the air, was 344 µg/m3. The same average, taken between 6am on the day of Diwali and 6am the next day, was 445 µg/m3 in 2016.
The CPCB monitoring stations picked vastly different levels in the two years. In 2016, the station at IHBAS measured the highest levels at 612.µg/m3. This station saw the lowest this year at 179 µg/m3 followed by ITO at 180 µg/m3, while the highest levels, 444µg/m3, were at Shadipur.
The lowest levels in 2016 were recorded at Mandir Marg, at 296 µg/m3.
The DPCC stations recorded 24 hour average PM2.5 concentration levels between 154µg/m3and 440µg/m3, the minimum at Civil Lines and the maximum at RK Puram. In 2016, the stations had recorded a range between 180 µg/m3 and 440 µg/m3, with minimum at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and the maximum at Anand Vihar, one of Delhi's most polluted areas.
The DPCC picked up a spike in pollution levels after 8pm, this Diwali, when the fireworks started. The ‘very poor’ air quality, said that Committee, was a sum total of existing pollutants, fireworks and the calm meteorological conditions that let the particulate matter sit in the air. Delhi is often faced with weather conditions in the onset of winter that compound its air pollution problem.
However, said the DPCC, this year it noted and improvement in PM2.5 and PM10 levels by 1pm on Friday, the day after Diwali.
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