Patna has reached number three in the ranking of poisonous air inside the country. However, the biggest concern is that poisonous air levels are continuously increasing in many cities of Bihar. Muzaffarpur tops the ranking of poisonous air.
Muzaffarpur has an AQI level of 287, with Manesar at number two and Patna with 251 at number three. AQI level 212 of Delhi has been recorded. Right after Deepawali, the level of air pollution has increased in Patna.
Patna ranks third among the total 116 cities of the country. According to the Central Pollution Control, if the AQI level of any city is more than 201, then the air there is bad. Bad air affects the health of the people living there.
The city air was highly polluted on the night of Diwali and the PM2.5 level also crossed the danger limit of 400 micrograms per cubic meter. It was recorded till 503 at the Eco Park Monitoring Station in Rajvanshinagar.
PM 10 also remained above the alarming level in the entire city and was recorded up to 528 micrograms per cubic meter at the SK Memorial Monitoring Station near Gandhi Maidan.
Due to the spread of pollution from firecrackers, it is normal for the air to be more polluted in Diwali than on normal days, but this time the NGT stopped firecrackers in many polluted cities of the country including Patna. Despite this, air and noise pollution has been recorded at many places in Patna for the last two-three years.
SO2 remains below alarming level even after rising
The effect of firecrackers also led to an increase in SO2 concentrations, but despite this increase, its level was not dangerous due to the standard being below 80 micrograms per cubic meter.