Hyderabad: Since the implementation of the lockdown to contain the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic from May 12, vehicular traffic has drastically came down in Hyderabad, and subsequently, several of key pollution parameters too have registered a decline.
According to the Telangana State Pollution Control Board, the Air Quality Index (AQI) values recorded at various monitoring stations across the city showed improvement. At several places, the values went from being in the ‘Moderate’ range to ‘Satisfactory’ and even moved to ‘Good’. Going by the AQI values at various National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) and State Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (SAAQM) stations in the city, it can be said the city is breathing easy.
The NAMP stations at Uppal, Jubilee Hills, Paradise, Charminar and Jeedimetla recorded AQI values in the satisfactory range in May as opposed to the moderate ranges in April.
While the AQI values at Balanagar NAMP station still remain in the moderate range, even that had reduced by more than 50 points. The best AQI of 58 was recorded at Jubilee hills while the highest change was observed at Uppal, with a difference of 64 points, as the AQI recorded there in April was 128 against 64 in May.
Here, it is important to note that the lesser the AQI value, the better the air quality.
All the SAAQM stations registered a drastic improvement in the AQI. While some like the ones at Madhapur, Langar House, MGBS, and Nacharam are still within the satisfactory range, all other places have gone from satisfactory to good air quality range. The best AQI was recorded at KBR park, with a value of 35, while it was 57 in April. The biggest difference was observed at the SAAQM station at Chikkadpally, which went down from 93 in April to 50 in May.
