Ludhiana’s air quality deteriorates despite temporary improvement, ranks 51st in national pollution study
PTC News Desk: Ludhiana has not improved its air quality over the long run, even if on July 6 it saw the clearest air of the year thus far. The Central Pollution Control Board reports that on July 6, the AQI in Ludhiana was 40, which is within the good air quality range with little to no health impact.
But in less than a month, Ludhiana was listed among the top 100 most polluting cities in the nation for the first half of 2024 according to a report done by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). However, a research by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) in less than a month ranked Ludhiana among the top 100 most polluted cities in the nation for the first half of 2024.
The PM 2.5 value, which is a measurement in microns (micrograms per cubic meter of air), was used to evaluate the quality of the air in Ludhiana. The CREA study made use of the Central PCB’s PM 2.5 rating.
Ludhiana ranked 51st out of 256 cities in the nation with an average PM 2.5 value of 61 microns between January 1 and June 30, 2024, according to the CREA. According to the survey, the top five most polluted cities in the nation are Bhagalpur (Bihar), Delhi, Gurgaon, Byrnihat (Meghalaya), and Faridabad.
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A dire picture of Ludhiana’s pollution situation is painted in the CREA report, which shows that the city has surpassed the WHO’s daily PM 2.5 guideline of 15 microns. For 82 days, Ludhiana’s PM 2.5 reading was also higher above the 60 micron daily threshold allowed by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
In terms of air pollution, Mandi Gobindgarh was ranked first in Punjab and Ludhiana was ranked second among the states. Bathinda was ranked eighth in the state.
Ludhiana recorded the highest PM 2.5 average of 64 microns in 2018, compared to 61 microns in 2023 and 2024, according to CREA statistics on average PM 2.5 from January to June since 2018.
In January and June of 2020, the lowest value of 35 microns was measured. According to CREA analyst Sunil Dahiya, Ludhiana’s daily PM 2.5 value above WHO standards on 182 out of the six months, while it exceeded the NAAQS limit on over 40 per cent of those days.
He put this down to transportation, industrial pollutants, and biomass (burned in communities during the winter for cooking and garbage disposal). He went on to say that elevated levels of PM 2.5 have an effect on human health, leading to conditions like respiratory illness, heart problems, and hypertension.
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