The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s (TNPCB ) monitoring exercise has revealed that the ambient air pollution levels at various places in the city have dipped significantly this Diwali season, compared to the last festival season.

The TPCB installed diffusion tubes to monitor the pollution levels at various places in the city. The monitoring was carried out near the Collector’s office, the PSG Arts and Science College and Ponnaiya Rajapuram on Diwali eve and on the festival day on October 29.

“The lab results convey a declining trend in air pollution levels compared to last Diwali season. The content of pollutants, such as nitrogen oxide and sulphur-dioxide were found to be 8 and 4 micrograms per sq m, while permitted levels are 100 micrograms per sq m. While it was within the permitted levels near the Collector’s office and the college, the pollution levels were high at Ponnaiya Rajapuram,” said T Sekhar, assistant director of the TNPCB, who supervised the monitoring exercise.

Likewise, noise pollution levels too, showed a decline. At Saibaba Colony and Ponnaiya Rajapuram, the decibel levels were found to be 77 and 70 decibels on Diwali day, while it was only 52 and 67 decibels on October 24.

“It is heartening to hear that the overall air and noise pollution levels in the city have dipped drastically this festival season. Thanks to the awareness created by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) and NGOs, a lot of people opted to for a cracker-free Diwali. People who celebrated a green Diwali need to be applauded and emulated by all. All my friends and their families chose to celebrate a cracker-free Diwali,” said Suresh Bhandari, adviser (Smart city) to CCMC.

Meanwhile, there are a profusion of entries for the ‘green Diwali’ awards announced by the CCMC. Over 42 per cent of registered residential colonies and gated communities have entered stories about their cracker-free celebrations.

“The CCMC also began a massive clean-up drive after Diwali, started on the festival night itself and tonnes of garbage has been safely disposed. The exercise is continuing,” said a senior CCMC official.