Air quality in Guwahati hits 'poor' category, PM2.5 levels cause health concerns
The city's AQI has remained consistently high, hovering between 250-270 since January 20;
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Guwahati, Jan 29: The ambient air quality in the city has been deteriorating in the last few days, triggering health risks for commuters.
Today, the AQI in Guwahati has recorded 258, which falls in the "poor" category.
The AQI was based on readings in four stations of the city. The major pollutant was said to be PM2.5.
In fact, on Tuesday, the city's AQI was ninth worst among 234 cities in the countries where the Central Pollution Control Board recorded the ambient air quality levels. It was close to Delhi's AQI of 276.
In fact, the AQI in Guwahati has been consistently poor since January 20, hovering between 250-270.
AQI above 200 is considered as "poor" and may cause breathing discomfort to most people. Residents and commuters have been forced to wear masks, install plastic curtains at the entrance of their houses and business establishments to prevent dust affects.
Construction activities particularly that of flyovers, were said to be major causes for the increasing city pollution, with the agencies concerned taking least precaution to prevent it. The construction of GNB flyover was one of the prime reasons for increasing dust pollution.
All laid down norms stated in the 'Action Plan' remains in paper and none of the agencies, including GMC, PWD, PCBA seems to be taking any pre-emptive measures.
Sprinkling of water is only done during visits of VIPs, while construction material remains uncovered throughout the length of GNB Road, observers said.
The weather conditions have aggravated the problem as fog tends to trap the particulate matter near the earth's surface.
Sources said, the PCBA has issued a set of advisories to the construction firms, but little has been implemented on ground.
The contractor constructing the GNB Road flyover has been asked to install four AQI monitoring units. Two have been installed and real time AQI are being made available to public.
But commuters and residents of GNB Road insist that the measures have failed to bring any relief.
"Traffic jams have increased due to the construction of flyovers. PM2.5 levels are already high, but due to longer queues of traffic, there is likelihood of NO2 levels rising further," an expert said
