BHOPAL: Curfew and lockdown induced by Corona helped not only to break the Covid chain of infection, but also improving the air quality.
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Close to 50 days of lockdown between April and June this year, had resulted in substantial reduction in air pollution in major cities of Madhya Pradesh. However, air pollution went up again after lifting of restrictions. Poor rainfall in some parts of the state and dust due to damaged roads in major cities of MP attributed to the rise in air pollution.
Air quality index of Bhopal on May 30 was 77 while it was measured at 107 on Friday. In Gwalior, AQI was 53 on May 30 which has increased to 127 and in Jabalpur, the AQI was 80 on May 30 and by and large remained the same at 83 on Friday.
The AQI of Bhopal and Gwalior was above 100. It is moderate and may lead to breathing discomfort to the people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases. Air quality is measured taking into account the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (Nox), RSPM10 and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air. While the rise in sulphur dioxide is due to vehicle emissions, the increase in nitrogen oxide is due to human activity, including vehicles and sewage, among others.
PM 10 is due to dust, construction, including building of roads while PM2.5 is due to dust, human activity and climatic conditions. Of the four, officials said, PM2.5 is the most harmful to health since it causes severe lung diseases.
Officials said, dust gets heavy in rain and settle down as it cannot fly in the air. The vehicular pollution also gets down as in wet roads tyres cannot send dust flying high. It is the reason why pollution levels come down during rains.
According to experts and pollution control board norms, air quality index between 0 and 50 is termed as good with minimal possible health impacts while air quality between 51 and 100 is satisfactory but may lead to minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people. Air quality above 100 is moderate and leads to breathing discomfort to the people with lungs, asthma and heart diseases. AQI above 200 leads to breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure.
