Punjab breathes poor, but cleanest since 2020

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

At 262, the maximum AQI was recorded in Amritsar, followed by Ludhiana at 257, Jalandhar at 225, Patiala at 224, Khanna at 189 and Mandi Gobindgarh at 188. While Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh fell in the moderate category, residents of the other four cities breathed poor air.

However, all the cities recorded an AQI reduction compared to 2021 and the maximum reduction was seen in Jalandhar where the air was 31.2% less polluted, followed by Khanna where a 16.7% AQI reduction was reported and the minimum reduction was seen in Patiala (7.0%).

In 2021, the highest AQI was recorded in Jalandhar at 327 (very poor) and in 2020, Amritsar saw the worst air quality at 386 (very poor).

This year, the minimum of AQI 188 (moderate) was recorded in Mandi Gobindgarh, against last year’s 220 (poor) and 2020’s 262 (poor).

While this year, none of the cities were in the very poor category, 2021 saw two cities (Amritsar & Jalandhar) in very poor category and in 2020, four cities – Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala – saw very poor air. Also, this year the AQI in two cities – Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh – remained in the moderate category, but in the last two years, no city saw moderate air on Diwali night.

During the day till 4 pm, all cities in Punjab reported moderate category air except Mandi Gobindgarh that saw satisfactory air (AQI 74). At 106 AQI, Khanna recorded a little above satisfactory air. Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Rup Nagar recorded 197, 152, 179, 150 and 136 AQI, respectively, on Diwali day till 4.00 pm.

Punjab Environment Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said, “Due to constant efforts of the Punjab Pollution Control Board and appeal by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, this year’s air quality on Diwali improved compared to last year.” He said last year as well as in 2020, no city was in the ‘moderate’ category whereas this year, Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh were in this category.

Meanwhile, Punjab Pollution Control Board Chairman Adarsh Paul Vig thanked the people of the state for following the advisory about the time period fixed for bursting firecrackers, resulting in an overall improvement in air quality as compared to 2021 and 2020.

PPCB member secretary Krunesh Garg said that the body has installed Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) in six cities of Punjab – Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Khanna, Mandi Gobindgarh and Patiala – to monitor AQI on a real-time basis.

Chandigarh recorded moderate AQI at 130 on Diwali day and 175 AQI on Diwali night.

Meanwhile, the number of stubble burning cases has touched 5,798 in Punjab and on Diwali night, the state recorded 181 incidents of field fires. To date, Tarn Taran recorded the maximum of 1,350 fires, followed by Amritsar at 1,085 and Gurdaspur at 577.