Pune consistently records poor quality air post Laxmi Puja this year, too
Akash Dhanurkar
Officials of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Pune Municipal Corporation time and again urged the citizens to celebrate cracker free Diwali. The sales of the crackers, too, had gone down, but surprisingly, on 13th, 14th and 15th of November, the air quality in Pune abruptly turned from good to poor.
According to the information released by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology to the request by Pune Pulse, the AQI recorded on 13th, 14th and 15th of November was 127, 121 and 268. On 15th Nov, a massive spike in the worsening of air quality was recorded.
AQI
11/13/2020 – 127
11/14/2020 – 121
11/15/2020 – 268
11/16/2020 – 93
Consider the given chart below to understand the AQI readings and its reference level.
- 0 to 50 – Good
- 51 to 100 – Satisfactory
- 101 to 200 – Moderate
- 201 to 300 – Poor
- 301 to 400 – Very poor
- 400+ – Severe
Talking with Pune Pulse, B S Murthy, Scientist of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said, “Surprising that even after seemingly reduction of bursting of fire crackers this year, the pollution level turned worse.”
