Lockdown improve Hyderabad's air quality

The night curfew and lockdown, apart from applying brakes on the spreading of the coronavirus, appears to have stopped air pollution levels too from rising. The city is breathing easier after the implementation of the night curfew, and more so after the imposition of the lockdown, according to the Air Quality Index (AQI) values recorded at various National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) stations across the city.

Over the last month, since the imposition of the night curfew on April 20, the AQI recorded at the stations went from moderate level to satisfactory level.

Some stations, like the one at Uppal, recorded a ‘Good’ AQI of 43 on May 19. The same station had an AQI of 128 in April. After initiation of the night curfew, the same station recorded a consistently improving AQI as it went from 103 at the beginning of May to 91 on the first day of the lockdown on May 12 to 43 on May 19. Lesser the AQI value the better quality of



air.

The same pattern has been observed at the NAMP stations at Balanagar, Jubilee Hills, Paradise, Charminar and Jeedimetla. Based on a report of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board dated May 19, the monitoring stations at all of these locations recorded AQI values of less than 100.

Balanagar, Jeedimetla, Jubilee Hills and Charminar recorded AQI values of 73, 60, 58 and 54 respectively, putting them in the ‘satisfactory’ level category while Paradise and Uppal saw AQI of 50 and 43, putting them in the ‘Good’ level category.

It is interesting to note that all of these places had an AQI of more than 100 in April, with Paradise having the best AQI of 100 in the month. The AQI at Balanagar in April was 166 but it is now 73, showing a 93 point growth in the air quality index. This station showed the highest difference in reduction of the pollution levels post-lockdown.