With the onset of winters, the people of Delhi and NCR have to deal with the problem of severe air pollution. But now it has become a problem not only for Delhi NCR but also in the eastern states of the country. According to the latest report by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organization working against environment and pollution, the people of Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha are also facing dangerous air pollution as the winter begins. According to CSE, the smog that engulfed North India in early November started moving eastwards in late December and early January. The smog conditions prevail in most parts of Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha in winters due to the long-term retention of pollutant particles in the air. In winter, this smog persists for a long time due to a lack of wind.
According to CSE Executive Director Anumita Roy Chowdhury, an analysis of the air quality data for 2019-2021 shows that the lockdown in 2020 due to the corona epidemic had resulted in a significant reduction in the level of air pollution. But once again air pollution is increasing rapidly in the eastern states. There has been a massive jump in air pollution levels once again in 2021. There is a need to take massive steps to control air pollution in the eastern states.
massive amount of data must be collected
According to Avikal Somvanshi, program manager of CSE's Urban Data Analytics Lab, monitoring of air pollution levels has been started in the eastern states of the country. But to deal with this problem, there is still a need to collect and analyze data on a large scale. In some stations in Bihar and Odisha, the data availability is so low that the air pollution status cannot be accurately assessed. Quality control of data is essential.
This analysis has been done based on data from 29 air quality monitoring systems spread across 12 cities in three states. Seven stations have been built in Kolkata, three stations in Howrah and one each in Asansol, Siliguri, Durgapur, Haldia in West Bengal. At the same time, six stations have been built in Patna, three stations in Gaya, three stations in Muzaffarpur, and one station in Hajipur. One real-time station each has been set up at Talcher and Brajrajnagar in Odisha.
PM 2.5 levels increased significantly
According to the CSE report, the level of PM2.5 in the air has increased significantly in most cities of the eastern states of the country. At the same time, in 2020, there was a decrease in the level of pollution in the air due to the lockdown due to Corona. But once again in 2021, the level of pollution has increased rapidly. The Durgapur Industrial Hub of West Bengal has been described by the CPCB as a critically polluted area. The average air pollution level in the region in 2021 was 80 micrograms per cubic meter. Under the standards, the maximum amount of PM 2.5 in the air should not exceed 60 micrograms per cubic meter. The cities of Muzaffarpur and Patna in Bihar also had average PM2.5 levels of 78 and 73 micrograms per cubic meter in 2021.
Need to reduce this much in Howrah and Durgapur
Looking at the pollution data, in West Bengal, the annual average amount of PM2.5 in Durgapur needs to be reduced by 50 percent. On the other hand, if we talk about Howrah, here there is a need to reduce the annual average amount of PM 2.5 by 34 percent. There is a need to bring down 32 percent in Asansol and 32 percent in Siliguri. The annual average amount of PM2.5 in Kolkata needs to be reduced to 28 percent. In Bihar, Muzaffarpur needs to reduce the annual average PM2.5 level by 49 percent to meet the norm. There is a need for a 45 percent reduction in Patna, 33 percent in Hajipur, and 18 percent in Gaya.
The eastern cities of the country have not recorded extremely severe pollution levels on any day during 2021. But the pollution level remained in the 'poor' and 'very poor' category for most of the days. In the whole year, Muzaffarpur in Bihar had the highest air pollution level of 93 days, Durgapur in West Bengal 71, Patna 67 days, and Howrah had 58 air pollution levels in very poor level. Durgapur recorded the highest number of days with poor air quality at 71, Patna 67, Kolkata 53, and Howrah 51. The days with the highest air pollution were recorded in the winter season itself.
Guwahati most polluted city in Northeast India
Avikal Somvanshi says that the average PM2.5 level in 2021 (as of 30 November) has already surpassed the 2019 annual average in Guwahati. The city's annual average for 2020 was also higher than the 2019 average, indicating continued poor air quality in the city. Shillong is the only city in the region to have a data generating station for more than two years, but its annual average cannot be considered reliable due to poor data availability. Nevertheless, the city average is well below the annual norm.
Agartala is the second most polluted city in the region with a 2020 average of 45 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3). With a 2020 average of 35 ug/m3, Kohima is the third most polluted city in the region. Aizwal and Naharlagun do not meet the minimum data availability requirement, but the limited data available indicates that both will likely meet the annual standard.
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