AQI improves to 'moderate', 8 fined 4L under GRAP

Noida: The city's AQI improved from 268 in the ‘poor' category on Monday to 170 in the ‘moderate' category on Tuesday. The city's AQI had slipped sharply since Sunday. Meanwhile, neighbouring Ghaziabad saw a similar improvement, recording an AQI of 181 in the moderate category, against 271 (poor) the previous day. Greater Noida also saw slight improvement in air quality, but the AQI remained in the ‘poor' category at 206 on Tuesday compared to 274 the day before.

As per an Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology bulletin, that air quality is expected to remain in the moderate category on Wednesday but may slip back to the poor category by Thursday. "The predominant winds are from northwest directions with wind speed 4-18 kmph during daytime and calm winds during night on Tuesday. The wind speed will be 4-12 kmph on Wednesday," the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, the Noida Authority launched a drive to create awareness and ensure compliance with GRAP regulations. The UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) Noida imposed fines totalling Rs 4 lakh on eight violators on Tuesday for breaching GRAP guidelines, such as keeping construction materials uncovered and not using water sprinklers at the site. This move aims to mitigate pollution as Stage 1 of GRAP came into effect a day before, officials said.

SP Singh, deputy general manager of Noida Authority, said that teams visited 40 locations to educate people about GRAP rules. "To combat pollution, 20 tankers were engaged to sprinkle STP water over 63.58km of roadways, and 12 mechanical sweepers cleaned 340km of roads," he said.