Hyderabad air quality improved during lockdown
Category : Air Pollution |
Location : Telangana | Posted on 2021-08-03 00:11:16
HYDERABAD: An assessment of the quarterly air quality index since January 2020 for major cities in India by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) show a marked improvement in air quality in Hyderabad from January 2020 to June 2021.
The improvement ranged from zero areas with good air quality in January-March 2020 to 30 areas having good air quality in April- June 2021. A total of 91 locations were tested for air quality ranging from good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor and severe within the city.
Interestingly, this also hints at how the human mobility has resulted in newer Covid-19 strains say experts. “Human mobility from October 2020 to March 2021 is highest in Hyderabad since the beginning of pandemic,” said Dr Kiran Madala, incharge head of department of critical care at Nizamabad Medical College.
“This trend is almost same in most cities of India. High mobility between October 2020 to March 2021 in India responsible for the birth of Delta variant in India. We should not repeat this at any cost to prevent future waves.” Meanwhile, even as an overall improvement was seen in air quality, the sharpest improvement was seen during the lockdown and also an immediate decline was seen in the quarter following the lockdown period.
While the national lockdown was imposed in March 2020, Hyderabad had no areas having good air quality (0-50 air quality index value), 63 areas fell within the satisfactory range (51-100) and 28 areas fell in the moderate range (101-200).
During April to June 2020 this improved to 27 areas reporting good quality, 58 satisfactory and six moderate, which further improved in July-September (period of gradual lifting of lockdown) to 81 good quality areas, 11 satisfactory and zero with moderate air quality. Cut to the latest quarter, and the number of areas having good air quality have gone down from 81 to 30 now and 18 areas are now in the moderate category.
This information was revealed in a reply given by minister of state for ministry of environment, forest and climate change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in Rajya Sabha. “In the year 2020, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) carried out assessment of impact of nationwide lockdown on air quality in various metropolitan cities, and water quality at major river stretches of the country. It has been reported that Covid-19 related lockdown resulted in temporary improvement of air and water quality in many cities and rivers due to closure of industries, reduction in number of vehicles plying, lack of construction activities and absence of human activities such as throwing of garbage, bathing, and washing of clothes,” read the reply.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/air-quality-saw-marked-improvement-in-city-during-lockdown/articleshowprint/84989997.cms
