AQI becomes ‘very poor’ in Guwahati city post-Diwali

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The air quality has dipped considerably post-celebration of the Diwali festival in the city, despite the attempts of the local administration to mitigate the problem.

The Air Quality Index, or AQI, was reported at 305 in the late evening of Tuesday, which is considerably worse than the usual index. The same was reported at 250 on Monday afternoon, although it is suspected to have increased considerably on Monday night.

Between 7:30 PM and 8 PM on Tuesday, the recording station at Railway Colony reported a reading of 305 AQI, which comes in the 'Very Poor' category. At the same time, the station at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport reported 213 AQI, which is in the 'poor' category. Pan Bazar and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati recorded 180 AQI and 161 AQI, respectively, both of which come in the moderate category.

On Monday afternoon, a reading of 250 was recorded in Railway Colony, 241 at LGBI Airport, 234 in Pan Bazar, and 200 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. All these readings fell under the 'poor' category of air quality.

It can be noted that the Kamrup Metropolitan District Administration and the Guwahati Police Commissionerate have taken several steps to encourage people to reduce the use of fireworks and use green crackers in place of conventional ones ahead of the festival. A short two-hour window was also allocated for the busting of crackers, but without any response from the citizens, who continued the sporadic burning of crackers from the morning until late at night, causing immense air and sound pollution. Without any possibility of rain anytime soon, it remains to be seen how long the air quality remains 'Very Poor' and 'Poor', and if it improves or grows worse in the days to come.

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