Indore: Amid social media posts going viral about city’s air pollution getting worse than Delhi, MP Pollution Control Board clarified that city’s condition is far better than Delhi and its pollution level is moderate.
Rubbishing the social media posts comparing city’s air quality index with that of Delhi, board officials said that the average AQI of city in last 15 days was 159, which is moderate.
According to MP Pollution Control Board regional office chief chemist Dr Dilip Wagela, real time air quality data is recorded only at DIG Office’s station in city, which is monitored at 34 stations in Delhi.
“In last 15 days, the average Air Quality Index was 159, a moderate level. The level of PM10 and PM2.5 was also 150 mg per cubic meter and 78 mg per cubic meter, respectively,” he said.
Similarly, the average of AQI at Vijay Nagar, Kothari Market and Sanwer Road was 76, which was satisfactory. “The average PM10 and PM2.5 in these stations was 89 and 91 respectively, which cleared that the level of pollution in Indore has not reached poor or very poor level,” Wagela said.
He added that due to poor wind speed and cold, pollutants and particulate matter stay low to ground and mostly at one place due to which it seems that the level of pollution is increasing. Emphasising on other reasons of pollution, he said burning in open, vehicle pollution, and lack of timer at traffic signals may be the reasons for same and people should take steps to pull it down.
“Few days ago, AQI had increased across the state probably due to low speed of air. Now, as the wind speed increased, AQI has decreased again,” he said.
Average of PM 10 and PM 2.5 in last 5 yrs
Year PM 10 PM2.5
2015 98 58
2016 95 49
2017 79 42
2018 84 40
2019 (till Oct) 63 30
