Patna air quality very poor, Muzaffarpur AQI worst in country

PATNA: The state capital and Muzaffarpur ushered in the New Year with very poor air quality. The air quality index (AQI) of Muzaffarpur remained ‘severe’ on Wednesday, whereas that of Patna was in ‘very poor’ category.
According to the figures released by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the AQI of Muzaffarpur was recorded at 465 on Wednesday, which was the worst in the country.Patna’s AQI, on the other hand, was recorded at 365.
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Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) officials stated that the overall AQI of 365 for Patna was the average of AQI level at planetarium (439), BIT-Mesra, Patna (372), Eco Park (312) and SK Memorial Hall (321).
BSPCB chairman Ashok Ghosh told this newspaper on Wednesday that the air quality of Patna and Muzaffarpur deteriorated because of three weather conditions — low wind velocity, increase in moisture level and decline in temperature. “Vehicle movement even at night on December 31 was another factor for the increase in AQI level at Patna and Muzaffarpur,” he said.
“The overall AQI level of the city has increased drastically. If we had only one air quality monitoring station at the planetarium, then Patna’s AQI level could also have been in severe category,” he added.
The BSPCB chairman further said one more air quality station would soon come up at Muzaffarpur and another at Gaya. “The data of one monitoring station in a city is not sufficient at all. I personally think that at least four stations are needed in any city to get a broader scenario with regard to air pollution, but for bigger cities like Patna, 10 air monitoring stations are must,” Ghosh said.
BSPCB is, in fact, in the process of installing two more air quality monitoring stations near DRM office at Danapur and Government Boy’s High School in Patna City by January 15.
Pradhan Parth Sarthi, professor at Department of Environmental Science of Central University of South Bihar (CUSB), said weather factors like low wind velocity, foggy conditions and low temperature have led to thermal inversion phenomenon in the atmosphere, which, in turn, has trapped the suspended particulate matter in the lower level of atmosphere. “The conditions can improve only with northwesterly wind and rainfall,” he added.