Safar data shows Ahmedabad’s air quality is worse than Delhi’s

AHMEDABAD: Data from the Union ministry of earth science’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (Safar) showed on Saturday that the air quality index (AQI) of Ahmedabad was worse among the metro cities monitored by Safar.

Among individual localities, Satellite area of Ahmedabad, had the worst AQI, 333. The higher the AQI, the poorer the air quality and particulate matter denser in the air.
While Delhi has an AQI of 278, Ahmedabad has 310, making the air quality of the city worse than any other big city in the country monitored by Safar.Cities like Mumbai and Pune have AQI below 90.
Almost all the areas in Ahmedabad barring Rakhial, had a high AQI according to Safar. Rakhial had the lowest AQI in the city, 289, but even this was higher than that of Mathura Road, the most polluted area of Delhi which has an AQI of 282.
Safar states that on Sunday, too, the AQI in Ahmedabad is likely to remain over 300. In its health advisory, Safar states, “Everyone should reduce heavy exertion. People with heart or lung disease, adults and children, should avoid longer or heavy exertion.”
In Ahmedabad the western part of the city, which includes Navrangpura, Satellite, Bopal, Chandkheda the AQI was above 300 with Satellite having the highest AQI among individual areas monitored by Safar.
Mukesh Kumar, AMC municipal commissioner said, “Safar mobile app is to alert people. We have an Air Quality Monitoring task force. However, our analysis has shown that in the New West zone areas, air pollution is largely due to real estate construction activity.”
A senior officer from Gujarat Pollution Control Board said that in the city there was a dust storm that led to increased pollution readings. Areas that show very poor AQI have a large vehicle population and open spaces that increase the density of dust particles.
Interestingly, the Safar monitoring stations are situated among green areas for example the Safar station in Satellite is in ISRO which is surrounded by greenery, while the one in Bopal is again in ISRO Colony. The Safar-Air monitoring station for Ahmedabad’s biggest dumpsite, Pirana, is also situated in one of the greenest lungs of the city — Gyaspur forestry plantation.