AQI Deteriorates? REALLY? What about unhealthy AQI on non-Diwali days?
   Date :14-Nov-2023

AQI Deteriorates 
 
 
 
 
Staff Reporter
The whole country defies restrictions of bursting of firecrackers on Diwali day. So, consequentially, the air quality deteriorates. That is what the anti-lobby says, quoting statistics in Nagpur city. However, the pertinent questions left out of the public debate are -- What about the unhealthy air quality on non-Diwali days? Is the tradition of bursting firecrackers responsible for deterioration in air quality on those days also? If not, then why hue and cry over unhealthy air quality during only a few festive days of the year? Interestingly, even as the data regarding the poor Air Quality Index (AQI) on ‘Lakshmi Poojan’ (main day of Diwali festival) on Sunday night and Monday morning was in circulation on Monday, the website http://app.cpcbccr.com/AQI_India/ was not showing any data at least till Monday late night. Another website of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) -
 
https://airquality.cpcb.gov.in/AQI_India_Iframe/ -- did show data for November 13 (Monday) at 11 pm. It did show ‘Poor’ AQI of 252 and 204 in case of Mahal and monitoring stations of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board opposite General Post Office (GPO) in Civil Lines area. The said website of CPCB showed ‘Moderate’ AQI of 194 and 182 in case of Ram Nagar and Ambazari monitoring stations of MPCB. Yet, when one took a look at the data on CPCB website for the past week, including non-Diwali festival days, for 11 pm, what came out was a picture that made one wonder why there was so much of hue and cry about deterioration in air quality only on Diwali festival days. As per the norms mentioned in CPCB website, AQI of 0-50 is considered ‘Good’ with ‘minimal impact’ on health; 51-100 AQI is considered ‘Satisfactory’ with ‘minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people’; 101-200 AQI is ‘Moderate’ with ‘breathing discomfort to the people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases’; 201-300 AQI is ‘Poor’ with ‘breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure’; 301-400 AQI is ‘Very Poor’ with ‘respiratory illness on prolonged exposure’; 401-500 AQI is ‘Severe’ that ‘affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases’.
  
Against this backdrop, if one takes a look at the AQI of the above-mentioned four MPCB monitoring stations in city, the AQI was either ‘Moderate’ or ‘Poor’ even before November 12-13 (main Diwali day and the day after). This indicates that there is something wrong with air quality even without bursting firecrackers on the festive occasions. So, one wonders, again, why there is so much of hue and cry over bursting of firecrackers changing the air quality of the city to ‘Poor’ for around 10 hours after ‘Laxmi Pujan’, that too, in areas under only two out of four monitoring stations. This is not to say that deterioration in air quality should be welcomed; but to point out that blaming only a few days of festival in a year will be only like finding a weak excuse to hide collective failure in identifying the real persisting causes and addressing those as a matter of regular practice all through the year. Failure on this count has led not only Nagpur city but also the entire country to a stage where the court directives and warning of action in case of violation of time restrictions for bursting of firecrackers, are not yielding the desired results. Rather, people are being boldly defiant. This year, people appeared to have defied the norms more boldly, as they celebrated Diwali with more enthusiasm probably to shed the gloom of the past couple of years of COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Getting back to CPCB website, ‘The Hitavada’ scanned the AQI data at 11 pm since November 6. In case of Mahal station, the date-wise AQI was as follows -- November 6 (171/Moderate), November 7 (184/Moderate), November 8 (208/Poor), November 9 (225/Poor), November 10 (219/Poor), November 11 (258/Poor), November 12 (236/Poor), November 13 (252/Poor). Thus, out of eight days, AQI recorded at Mahal station was ‘Poor’ for six days in a row. On November 11, a day prior to ‘Lakshmi Poojan’, the AQI was 258 at 11 pm. On ‘Lakshmi Poojan’ day, that is, November 12 (Sunday), the AQI was 236 -- ‘Poor’ again, but slightly lower than that a day earlier! On November 13 (Monday), the AQI rose slightly to 252, but it was again lower than that on November 11. This is an illustrative case to point out that though there is lot of talk about deterioration in AQI on the day of ‘Lakshmi Poojan’, the AQI was poor at least for four preceding days, and it was ‘Moderate’ (not even satisfactory from health point of view) for two days before that.
 
For the sake of record, the AQI in Mahal at 2 am was 240 on Diwali night (in the wee hours of Monday). It was 215 in Ambazari, 207 in Ram Nagar, and 201 in area around GPO in Civil Lines. Similarly, the AQI of Mahal at 12 midnight on Diwali day (Sunday) was 230. It was 212 in Ambazari, 204 near GPO, and 199 in Ram Nagar. Despite a strict ban on fireworks in the Second Capital of Maharashtra, revellers throughout the city indulged in bursting firecrackers. The AQI was ‘Poor’ on Monday also. At 9 am, it was 236 in Mahal area. At 11 am, it was 237. In Ram Nagar, it was 220 at 9 am, and 218 at 11 am. Civil Lines, which is the greenest patch of the city, also recorded AQI of 200 at 9 am on Monday.
 
However, before the ‘Lakshmi Poojan’ day, Ram Nagar station recorded ‘Poor’ AQI of 207 on November 10 at 11 pm. On November 12 (Lakshmi Poojan), at 11 pm, Ram Nagar recorded ‘Moderate’ AQI of 186, which was lower than that recorded on November 10! On November 13, at 11 pm, Ram Nagar recorded ‘Moderate’ AQI of 194, again lower than that on November 10! Ambazari station recorded ‘Poor’ AQI of 214 on November 11, that is, a day prior to ‘Lakshmi Poojan’. On November 12, the main day of Diwali, it recorded AQI of 204, which was ‘Poor’ but lower than that a day before. Both the values were as at 11 pm. On November 13 (Monday) at 11 pm, the AQI reduced to ‘Moderate’ 182 in Ambazari. Earlier, from November 6 to November 10, Ambazari recorded ‘Moderate’ AQI, which was still not healthy, and which were non-Diwali days. The monitoring station opposite GPO in Civil Lines, recorded ‘Moderate’ AQI from November 6 to November 10. However, on November 11, there was a sudden jump, and ‘Poor’ AQI of 221 was recorded. Surprisingly, as against public perception, the AQI came down to 201 at 11 pm on November 12 (Lakshmi Poojan night). On November 13, the AQI was 204 at 11 pm, which was still lower than that recorded on November 11 night. From the official data, it appears to be a myth that AQI deteriorates only on main Diwali night in the city. Rather, the AQI staying ‘Moderate’ or ‘Poor’ even in the week preceding main Diwali day, calls for serious exercise in finding out persisting reasons of unhealthy air quality instead of pinning the blame on only the festive days in a year.