Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Indoreans celebrated the 5-day ‘Festival of Lights’, ‘Diwali’ with enthusiasm and fervour after a gap of two years. The spread of Covid-19 had disrupted life and stymied the zeal of celebrations for the past two years. But, as the pandemic disease waned, people lit firecrackers to celebrate the festival, although it increased pollution to an alarming level.
According to the report of Regional Pollution Control Board, the pollution level increased manifold on the day and the city recorded an alarming rise in pollution level on October 24, the Diwali night. It was also revealed that the Regal Square area witnessed the highest level of pollution this Diwali.
According to officials of the Pollution Control Board, the AQI remained low compared to the level in 2021, but the level of PM10 and PM2.5 reached ‘severe’ and ‘very poor conditions’ levels, respectively.
After Regal Square, Mhow Naka remained the most polluted area, while Vijay Nagar was placed at third position. Last year, the MIG area was declared the highest polluted region on Diwali day.
According to SN Patil, scientist, Pollution Control Board, not only the air pollution, but noise pollution, too, increased manifold. However, the level of pollution will decrease in a couple of days.
“Firecrackers that go up in the air produce sparkling colorful lights and release several gases along with huge amounts of suspended particles, scientifically known as Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM). As a result, ambient air quality during Diwali, which measures data of SO2, NOx and RSPM, increased, while the AQI was recorded lower in comparison to last year’s tests,” he added.
According to experts, RSPM causes huge damage to trees as it blocks photosynthesis and causes respiratory problems for animals and humans.
Huge rise in RSPM
The standard level of RSPM per microgram of cubic area is 100. On a normal day, the RSPM level was 80.33 to 200 in different parts of the city, which rose to 400 to 600 on Diwali day. Similarly, the level of SO2, which is around 11.92 on normal days, increased manifold to 61 on the day. The same was the case with NOx.
As far as noise pollution is concerned, it remained almost the same compared to last year’s. The level of sound pollution is the highest in Indore even on normal days compared to the standard level. The city reports 61.4 to 80.6 decibels of sound in different parts of the city on a normal day. On Diwali day, it was recorded in the range of 81.6 decibels.
Level of pollution in city on Diwali
Year 2022
Vijay Nagar/ Residential
PM-10 µg/m3 219.1
SO2 µg/m3 31.1
NOX µg/m3 44.9
Pm 2.5 - 140.6
Kothari Market /Commercial
PM-10 µg/m3 ---
SO2 µg/m3 ---
NOX µg/m3 ---
Pm 2.5 ---
MIG Chouraha/ Jijabai Girls’ College
PM-10 µg/m3 --
SO2 µg/m3 ---
NOX µg/m3 ---
Mhow Naka Chouraha
PM-10 µg/m3 355.5
SO2 µg/m3 45.7
NOX µg/m3 60.64
Pm 2.5 190.4
DIG Office, Indore (CAAQMS)
PM-10 µg/m3 618
SO2 µg/m3 57.6
NOX µg/m3 97.03
Pm 2.5 320
Cases of asthma, COPD may increase
Meanwhile, the city’s doctors have raised an alarm against the increasing number of patients of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and held the increasing pollution level accountable for it.
“A large number of people in the city are suffering from COPD and the number will shoot up swiftly due to the increasing pollution levels during the 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 in the past few years.
“Indore is the cleanest city of the country, but pollution is still a concern. Earlier, COPD was seen mainly in people above 60 years till a few years ago, but the average age of COPD patients has decreased to 40 years in non-smokers. With the rise in pollution, COPD cases will increase in the coming days by 30-40 per cent,” the pulmonologists said.
