Hyderabad had zero bad air days, says Centre

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad reported zero bad days with the Air Quality Index (AQI) of less than 200 whereas Visakhapatnam had 25 bad days, Amravati had 21 bad days and Rajahmundry had 20 in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as per the latest Parliamentary report from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change.

The AQI for Hyderabad for the period of 2019-2021 was below 200 through each day of the year, indicating that the air pollution in the city has been under check, maintaining good air quality.

Visakhapatnam had bad days consecutively for three years in a row, with 25 days in 2019, 23 days in 2020 and 21 days in 2021.

Amaravati had 21 bad days in 2019, 11in 2020 and eight in 2021, while Rajahmundry had 20 in 2019, 15 in 2020 and nine in 2021 as per the report.

The report may look like good news for Hyderabadis, but the environment experts have a contradictory view on the official report as far as the air pollution of both the Telugu-speaking states are concerned.

According to city environmentalist D. Narsmiha Reddy, the source of the data in the Parliamentary report is questionable. He said, “The source of information seems to be very shady as the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) tell a different story about the AQI of the cities in question. As far as Hyderabad is concerned, the pollution level went down during the lockdown, but has worsened again after the lockdown was lifted.”

Regarding cities in Andhra Pradesh, he added, “Visakhapatnam is undergoing extensive construction activities, owing to which the AQI is bad there. Moreover, the public transport in the city is also poor, because of which lots of private vehicles are in use.”

Stating three major causes for air pollution as vehicles, industries and construction, he added that whichever city was undergoing such activities would continue to experience poor AQI.