Air pollution level across Kolkata on Kali Puja-Diwali evening this year was "far less" than it was on the same festival night in the last three years, a West Bengal Pollution Control Board official said Tuesday.
The dip in air pollution was attributed to intermittent showers since Monday morning under the impact of cyclone 'Sitrang' as the light rain cleansed the air and prevented a section of revellers to burst fireworks, he said.
Efforts of the state pollution control board and increased monitoring by the city police also helped build awareness of the health impacts of crackers. At Rabindra Sarobar in south Kolkata, the air quality index was 43 at 11 pm which was termed as 'good'. The AQI in the same locality was 168 at the same time on the last year's Kali Puja.
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Similarly, the AQI at an air monitoring station in Jadavpur was 44 on Monday as compared to 244 around the same time on the Kali Puja night in 2021, he said. Compared to the air quality count at 190 on the last year's festival night in Ballygaunj area, the AQI was 53 at 11 pm on October 25, which was 'satisfactory'.
Showing a similar trend in northern parts of the city, the AQI was 39 (good) at Bidhannagar in comparison with the year-ago count at 229, which was considered 'poor'. Air pollution this year was "far less" in comparison with the last year's Diwali-Kali Puja time, the PCB official said.
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Despite the limited bursting of fireworks in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, the air quality index was over 100 at several stations, while the AQI, on average, was 210 in 2019. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', while the 51-100 range is labelled as 'satisfactory', 101-200 as 'moderate', 201-300 as 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'.
"Since the restrictions on sales of highly-polluted crackers in the past few years were imposed by the PCB and the concerned government departments, the AQI on Kali Puja-Diwali night had hovered between 'satisfactory' to 'poor' levels.
Several regulatory actions and the implementation of national clean air programmme have also contributed to the dip in air pollution. This year, rain also helped," West Bengal Pollution Control Board Chairman Kalyan Rudra told PTI.
Environmentalist Somendra Mohan Ghosh said the sound pollution level was, however, high on late Kali Puja-Diwali night in parts of Tollygunge, Jadavpur, Kasba, Jorasanko, Girish Park and Beliaghata areas of the city and also in Salt Lake
"The WBPCB should come out with details about sound pollution due to bursting of crackers in different parts of the city and also on violation of the two-hour window from 8 pm given for bursting of green firecrackers on October 25," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
