Hyderabad: Despite the clamour around celebrating a ‘green Diwali,’ the city's pollution levels on Diwali continued to push the limits. According to officials of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB), both the air and noise pollution levels were high on the day of the festival.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) showed that the areas of Bollarum and Sanathnagar had the highest air pollution levels at 300 and 361 respectively. Such a high count on the AQI has severe implications on one's health, according to officials, as this could lead to respiratory illness on prolonged exposure.
“The hourly average of the air-quality data at the six locations during the evening hours on Diwali day, from 5 pm onwards, indicate gradual increase in concentrations and also higher contribution to PM2.5,” said an official.
TSPCB officials have attributed the rise in pollution to the slow movement of the air.
“The average wind speed of Hyderabad in general is 2.8 mts per second, however on 27 October the wind speed on an average was around 0.5 mts per second, indicating poor dispersion. Owing to poor dispersion, the pollutants that engulfed the air, couldn't dissipate,” the official said.
Noise levels are being monitored in and around the city at 10 locations through continuous real time noise monitoring stations that capture data at regular intervals.
