Bhubaneswar: The lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the deadly Coronavirus has brought us some good news in disguise. As people kept themselves inside homes and all activities came to a standstill, the environment has been the biggest beneficiary of this. The shutting down of most of the factories and restrictions on movement of vehicles, one of the major air pollutants, has its impact on the environment in Odisha.
With the onset of the month of March and the beginning of dry atmosphere, the environment was expected to be poor in terms of air pollution. But the lockdown imposed has brought some startling data regarding the air pollution levels in Odisha. The major cities of the state have witnessed a positive improvement in the air quality after the lockdown was imposed. The date given by the State Pollution Control Board reveals that there has been a tremendous improvement in air quality in all major cities of the state. Bhubaneswar, the capital city has been the biggest beneficiary of the lockdown in terms of improvement in air quality.
The government imposed total lockdown on 21st March and it still continues. In the first ten days of the lockdown period, major cities of the state including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Balasore, Talcher, Anugul, Paradip, Kalinganagar, Rajgangpur and Keonjhar have recorded significant improvement in the air quality index.
The capital city of Bhubaneswar, which had an Air Quality Index of 102 with regard to prominent pollutant (PM10) on the last day of the normal period, has witnessed a great improvement and has declined to 41 by the 31st of March. The quality of air in Bhubaneswar has improved from moderate to good. In Berhampur the air quality index has improved from 54 to 22 ie., from satisfactory to good in these ten days of lockdown.
Likewise, the industrial town of Jharsuguda, which had an Air Quality Index of 116, has improved significantly to 55 showing upgradation from moderate to satisfactory. Similarly, industrial towns of Kalinganagar, Rajgangpur, Rourkela, Talcher and Anugul have also witnessed improvement in the air quality index between 26 percent to 39 percent from the last day of the normal day to 31st march 2020.
Other major cities including Cuttack, Rayagada, Keonjhar and Sambalpur have also saw an improvement in the Air Quality Index between 24 percent to 27 percent in the said period.
Within ten days of the lockdown, the air quality in the major cities saw reduction in pollutants from industries and motor vehicle pollution. With the lockdown still continuing, the air quality is expected to improve more by the15th of this month.