Hyderabad: The South-West monsoon has cleared up the air in the city quite a bit.
According to data recorded by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB), the heavy rains that lashed the city through August brought down air pollution significantly, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) values improving in many areas. The fact that traffic is yet to reach the pre-lockdown level too has helped, officials say.
As per TSPCB data between January and August, the AQI values in most parts, which were in the ‘Moderate’ category with the fine particulate matter level above 100, has come down and moved to ‘Good’ category, which has particulate matter level below 50.
The AQI in Sanathnagar, an industrial hub, which was 105 in January and indexed as ‘moderate’, dropped to 25 in August. The AQI here in August last year was 38. Similarly, the AQI in the Zoo Park area was 150 in the beginning of the year. The area witnessed improvement during the monsoon and has the AQI pegged at 43 in August. The drop in AQI levels in these two areas is significant given the large presence of industries there, and Sanathnagar and Zoo Park for years being considered highly polluted zones in the city.
Several other parts of the city, including Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Abids, Uppal, Kukatpally, Charminar, Paradise and Madhapur, too witnessed improvement in air quality. According to TSPCB officials, air pollution will be less from June to September as rains accompanied with winds wash out the pollutants and clean the air.
“However, air pollution could slowly begin to rise from October, when the temperatures start to drop,” a senior official said.
South-west monsoon picks up
After staying away from the city for almost a fortnight, the south-west monsoon has picked up with several parts receiving moderate rainfall for the last two days.
During the last 24 hours, the highest rainfall of 51.5 mm was recorded at Saroornagar while the average rainfall in the city stood at 8 mm. Following the rains, the day temperatures, which have been hovering around 35 degree Celsius, have dipped to 30 degree Celsius.
The impact-based weather forecast by the Meteorological Department indicated there would generally be a cloudy sky on Sunday with light to moderate rain or thundershowers likely in many parts of the city.
According to the Telangana State Development Planning Society, a low-pressure area is expected to form over the west-central Bay of Bengal off the Andhra Pradesh coast by Sunday. Under its influence, the rainfall distribution and intensity are expected to increase over the State for the next three days.
Several districts in the State received heavy rainfall on Friday with the highest rainfall of 128.1 mm recorded at Kodakandla in Jangaon district while the maximum temperature of 37.9 degree Celsius was recorded at Burgampahad in Bhadradri-Kothagudem.
