Indore(Madhya Pradesh): The city celebrated the festival of Diwali with joy and fervour on Monday but bursting crackers, but the celebrations have depleted the air quality of the city.
As per the records of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the AQI in the city was depleted by over 30 per cent in just a few hours on Monday night.
The AQI on Monday evening was 175 but it increased to over 209 on Tuesday morning. Surprisingly, the level of PM10 and PM2.5 also reached the level of 500 for a few hours on Monday night between 2 am to 4 am.
However, the average PM10 and PM2.5 was 209 and 192 respectively.
Meanwhile, the regional officer of the Pollution Control Board SN Dwivedi said, “We have been monitoring the data and will continue the same for the next few days after which the data will be analyzed. If a major rise is seen in pollution, we will place the data in our meeting and work on solutions. ”
The former chief chemist of Pollution Control Board and environmentalist DK Wagela said, “If we compare the level of pollution from the day of Diwali last year, it was comparatively low as AQI was 198 on Diwali evening in 2021 but was 165-175 on Diwali evening in 2022.”
He added that the pollution may increase in the coming days due to lowering temperature as it would keep the pollutants close to the surface.
Cases of asthma, COPD may increase
Meanwhile, city doctors have warned of a likely increase in the number of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and held increasing pollution accountable for the same.
“A large number of people in the city are suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and the number will shoot up swiftly due to increasing pollution levels during festivities,” doctors said.
They added that the level of PM 10 in 2015-16 was close to 100 but it has reached over 300 and more now in the last few years.
“Indore is the cleanest city in the country but pollution is still a concern. Till a few years ago, COPD was mainly seen in those above 60 years but the average age of patients has decreased to 40 years in the case of non-smokers. With the rise in pollution, COPD cases would increase in coming days by 30-40 per cent,” a pulmonologist said.
