Pirana records poorest Air Quality Index in Ahmedabad

On Saturday around 8 pm, residents of Pirana noticed huge flames at a heap of garbage in the dump yard. Upon receiving the complaint, authorities of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Fire Brigade rushed to the spot to douse the fire and find out whether the flames were man-made and involved mischievous elements.

“We have stationed a fire tender vehicle since last night which has been continuously pouring water on the heap. While the flames have been controlled, the garbage is still burning from the inside, due to which smoke is still being emitted. It is difficult to make the water reach the fire burning inside the garbage and impossible to physically reach it. We have not found out yet if the fire was man-made,” said an official posted at Aslali Fire Brigade in Ahmedabad.

The area recorded the poorest air quality index (AQI) among the six air quality monitoring stations located in Ahmedabad.

As per official data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), Pirana recorded AQI of pollutant PM 2.5 at 228, which falls in the ‘poor’ category and pollutant PM 10 at 153, which is moderate, till 2.30 pm on Sunday.

According to an advisory issued by SAFAR, the poor air quality category poses health risks and an “increasing likelihood of respiratory symptoms in sensitive individuals.” Children and elderly are at risk and everyone may begin to experience some level of discomfort, the advisory stated.

Second to Pirana was the Airport area, which recorded the AQI of pollutant PM 2.5 at 113 and PM 10 at 104, both of which fall in the ‘moderate’ category.

Bopal area performed best and recorded AQI of pollutant PM 2.5 at 69 and PM 10 at 79, both of which fall in the category of ‘satisfactory’.

The overall AQI of Ahmedabad was recorded at 101 at 2.30 pm, which is ‘satisfactory’.