City’s air quality rating ‘satisfactory’: APPCB

Vijayawada: A majority of citizens avoided bursting crackers in Vijayawada on Sunday in keeping with the low-key Diwali celebrations of the last two years. With a PM10 level of 54 , the air quality index (AQI) of the city on Monday morning was rated as ‘satisfactory’.
A ‘satisfactory’ rating is the second-best rating in the AQI and indicates ‘minor breathing discomfort to sensitive people’. The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), which has 18 air quality monitoring stations across the state, noted that Vijayawada was the sixth least polluted city following Diwali celebrations.
PCB authorities in Vijayawada expressed happiness that their monitoring exercise had revealed that ambient air pollution levels at various places in the city dipped significantly this Diwali season, compared to last year.
Officials said that they had installed diffusion tubes to monitor pollution levels at various places in the city.
Monitoring was carried out near Auto Nagar Industrial Estate, Benz Circle, and Governorpet areas on October 26 and on the day of the festival on October 27.
Authorities said that awareness levels among residents showed a substantial increase across the state since 2016.
“The restrictions by the Supreme Court also had a cumulative effect in accelerating awareness. NGOs, too, played a crucial role,” a senior APPCB engineer told TOI.
Overall, officials noted that air and sound pollution showed a declining trend.
Vizag beat Vijayawada with the second-lowest pollution levels in the state and an AQI rating of ‘good’. Rajahmundry was the worst-affected region with pollution levels of ‘moderate’ and PM2.5 and PM10 levels over 163.

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