Chandigarh breathes better this Diwali

Chandigarh, November 15

The Air Quality Index (AQI) value of the city dropped heavily from 341 last year to 140 this year. While the air quality was ‘very poor’ on Diwali last year, it fell under the ‘moderate’ category this time.

“The credit for the better air quality goes to people. There was a remarkable reduction in air pollution despite the fact that last year, Diwali was on October 27 when air pollution is comparatively less than November,” said Debendra Dalai, Vice-Chairman, Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee. “The ambient air quality on Diwali this year is almost equivalent to the days preceding the festival,” he said.

Ravindra Khaiwal, Additional Professor of Environment Health, Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGI, said, “As per our assessment, it is the lowest AQI since 2011 when we started evaluating it at the

Sector 25 station.” — TNS