The country went into lockdown for 21 days to halt the spread of COVID-19, and this measure has already started yielding results – though they are not connected to the virus.
The centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) reports a 30 percent reduction of PM2.5 (fine particulate pollutant) in Delhi with Ahmedabad and Pune following with 15 percent drop in pollution.
Pune has also become 43 percent cleaner as far as the level of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) pollution is concerned, and so are Mumbai (38 percent less NOx) and Ahmedabad (50 percent). The level of Nitrogen Oxide depends heavily on density of motor vehicle traffic and increases the risk of respiratory conditions.
At the moment the air quality index (AQI) in more than 90 India's largest cities falls between 'good' and 'satisfactory' ranges, including Delhi (good) and Kanpur (satisfactory). Today, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) monitoring centres have recorded the lowest air pollution of the three last months.
Welcoming this reduction in pollution, environmentalists urged the government to look upon this as a wake-up call, and to get over its obsession with development at the cost of environment.
Air Quality Improves in India Thanks to Lockdown
News in Asia
It is not all bad about locking big cities down: many Indian destinations are reporting a considerable improvement of air quality.