Punjab’s air quality ‘poor’ but levels of pollution reduced this Diwali

Punjab Air Quality: The Punjab government, on Tuesday, claimed reduced levels of pollution in the state this Diwali with the average Air Quality Index (AQI) reduced to 16.4 percent from last year and 31.7 percent as compared to 2020.
State Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said due to constant efforts of the Punjab Pollution Control Board and appeals made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann this year’s air quality improved as compared to previous years on the day of Diwali.
Hayer said last year as well as in 2020, no city remained in the moderate category of AQI whereas this year two cities (Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh) remained in the moderate category of AQI.

Punjab has observed the AQI reduction of 16.4% from the last year and 31.7% as comparative to 2020.Due to appeals by CM Sir @BhagwantMann ji & constant efforts of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, this year’s air quality improved as compare to last years on the day of Diwali https://t.co/o2CmqdDUOG

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— Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer (@meet_hayer) October 25, 2022

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Overall all six cities of Punjab experience a reduction in the AQI during this year’s Diwali (2022) as compared to last year’s Diwali days (2020 and 2021), said the minister, adding the average AQI of Punjab this year Diwali was 224 (poor) as compared to 268 (poor) in 2021and 328 (very poor) in 2020.
The maximum AQI was recorded at Amritsar this year with AQI category 262 (poor). In the last year, maximum value of AQI 327 (very poor) was observed in Jalandhar and in 2020 maximum value of AQI 386 (very poor) was observed in Amritsar.
The minimum AQI for this year was recorded in Mandi Gobindgarh with AQI of 188 (moderate) against the last year value of 220 (poor) and also in 2020 with AQI value of 262 (poor).
Last year, the AQI of the two cities (Amritsar and Jalandhar) was in very poor category whereas in 2020, four cities namely Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala remained in the very poor category.
No city, however, remained in the very poor category of AQI this year. The maximum AQI reduction this year was in Jalandhar (31.2 percent) and the minimum was observed in Patiala (7.0 percent), the minister said.
Meanwhile, the PPCB chairman Prof Adarsh Paul Vig thanked the people of state of Punjab for following the advisory issued with respect to time period fixed for bursting of fire crackers and using the green crackers for celebrations of Diwali festival, resulting in overall improvement in Air Quality as compared to last year and 2020 also.
Member secretary, PPCB Karunesh Garg said the board has installed continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) in six cities of Punjab – Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, Mandi Gobindgarh and Patiala – to monitor the ambient air quality on real time basis.