At AQI 352, Lucknow ‘like a gas chamber’

LUCKNOW: The city remained blanketed in a thick haze on Thursday as the air quality index (AQI) breached the 350-mark for the first time postmonsoon.
Foul air, in fact, made a rapid deterioration record in October, which witnessed an AQI jump from 49 (categorised as good) on the first of the month to 352 (very poor) on the last day.
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According to data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city breathed ‘good air’ only on two days (October 1and 2) followed by two days of ‘satisfactory’ air quality (AQI 64 on October 3 and AQI 70 on October 4).
Thereafter, till October 16, the air pollution level was ‘moderate’. But, from October 17 to 25, the AQI was ‘poor’ and then it plummeted to ‘very poor’ on the last four days of the month.
Experts said the weather was conducive to accumulation of superfine particulate matter — PM10 and PM2.5 — present in Diwali fireworks and vehicle emission, which in turn catalysed deterioration of air quality from October 28.
“Low temperature, reduced wind velocity and high humidity did not allow pollutants to disperse, leading to accumulation of particulate matter in the atmosphere. As the concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 increased, the city was blanketed in a thick haze and felt like a gas chamber,” said environmentalist Venkatesh Dutta.