Guwahati News Desk: Breathing discomfort due to poor air quality index value does not augur well for the residents of Guwahati, especially at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is yet to relent. The two online monitoring stations of the Pollution Control Board, Assam (PCBA) – one at Railway Colony in the Bamunimaidam area and the other on Cotton University premises – read the average air quality index value in Guwahati 110 on November 4, 2021. It is considered moderate.
However, these two monitoring stations read the average air quality index value as 230 (poor) on November 5. Poor average air quality index is notorious for breathing discomfort. People may suffer from breathing discomfort in the city. The blame for this deterioration in the air quality index value in the city naturally goes to the bursting of firecrackers and other fireworks during Diwali.
Following a directive from the Supreme Court of India passed on October 29, 2021, the PCBA said that ‘the Air Quality Index (AQI) in all the cities/towns in Assam, including Guwahati, is moderate or below’. It allowed the bursting of green crackers only for two hours – from 8 pm to 10 pm – during Diwali. The air quality index value in the city was 106 on November 3.