This story is from January 8, 2020

Patna air ‘very poor’ again, Muzaffarpur AQI worst in country

After a brief respite, the air quality in the state capital slipped from ‘moderate’ to ‘very poor’ category in the last 24 hours. Experts said it may further deteriorate due to low wind velocity and fall in temperature, as predicted by the Air Quality Early Warning System of the Union ministry of earth sciences.
Patna air ‘very poor’ again, Muzaffarpur AQI worst in country
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PATNA: After a brief respite, the air quality in the state capital slipped from ‘moderate’ to ‘very poor’ category in the last 24 hours. Experts said it may further deteriorate due to low wind velocity and fall in temperature, as predicted by the Air Quality Early Warning System of the Union ministry of earth sciences.
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According to figures released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Patna increased from 115 on Monday to 323 on Tuesday, while the AQI of Muzaffarpur stood at 394, which was the highest in the country.

Among the 99 cities, Patna figured among top five polluted cities in India after Talcher, Varanasi and Kanpur. The AQI level at Gaya stood at 121, which falls in the ‘moderate’ category.
Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) officials stated that the overall AQI of 365 for Patna was the average recorded at the air quality monitoring stations at planetarium (400), BIT-Mesra, Patna (339), Eco Park (295) and SK Memorial Hall (257).
Ankita Jyoti, a senior programme officer of Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED), told this newspaper on Tuesday that continuous fluctuation in weather conditions, including fall in temperature and high humidity are the major factors behind the rise in AQI.

“The wind velocity is good but it contains moisture, which creates thermal inversion in the atmosphere. Due to this inversion, the pollutant dispersion is very minimal,” she said and added: “The worsening of air quality in Muzaffarpur can be attributed to relatively calmer winds, which are not dispersing the pollutants.”
Pradhan Parth Sarth, the standing committee member of Bihar State Action Plan for Climate Change, said the air quality of Patna might improve under the influence of a western disturbance that is expected to impact the weather in Bihar on January 8 and 9. “The western disturbance will lead to strengthening of surface winds. Nevertheless, the air quality in Patna will remain poor to very poor till January-end,” he said.
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About the Author
Faryal Rumi

She is working with the Times of India as a Senior Digital Content Creator on the Patna desk.

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