Nagpur: The air quality of Nagpur city deteriorated to ‘poor’ level on Tuesday, January 7, as all the four Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) in the city reported the Air Quality Index (AQI) above 200 mark.
Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) installed four CAAQMS in the city to monitor the city’s air quality 24×7. After its installation in 2023, all the four CAAQMS on Tuesday recorded the AQI above 200 mark for the first time, throwing shade on the air pollution mitigation measures by the administration in the city.
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Wednesday 07 Jan. 2025
The CAAQMS installed in Ram Nagar recorded the highest AQI with 278 and it was reported around 4 pm. Mahal was the second most polluted area among all the four stations as it recorded the AQI level at 235. It was recorded at 11 am. The CAAQMS installed at the General Post Office (GPO) in the Civil Lines area was recorded AQI 220. Ambazari based CAAQMS recorded 218 AQI at 5 pm.
Nagpur city comes under the non-attainment city list issued by CPCB a few years ago. To improve the air quality of all 131 non-attainment cities in the country, CPCB asked local bodies to do air quality improvement mitigation and for the central government releasing funds every year to non-attainment cities from 2019. The ongoing cement road construction work, infrastructure development and vehicular traffic are the main contributors to air pollution in the city.
Normally during the winter season, the air quality deteriorates but in the last couple of days, the minimum temperature in Nagpur was increasing and on Tuesday when all the four stations recorded ‘Poor’ air quality, the minimum temperature was above 13 degrees Celsius.
According to CPCB norms, an AQI of 50 or below is considered ‘good’, while ‘satisfactory’ falls between 51 and 100. A ‘moderately polluted’ reading ranges from 101–200, ‘poor’ extends from 201–300, ‘very poor’ is between 301 and 400, and anything above 400 is deemed ‘severe’.
