 "Air quality very poor in Kolkata on New Year's Day as people burst crackers")
Air quality in Kolkata remained 'very poor' on New Year's Day on Sunday as revellers burst firecrackers after midnight.
West Bengal Pollution Control Board, however, maintained that air quality index (AQI) remains poor during this time of the year as fine particulate matter remain suspended closer to the ground and get mixed with fog.
It also claimed that fewer firecrackers were burst this year on the occasion of New Year.
AQI of 314 (PM 2.5) was recorded at Bidhannagar, 303 at Victoria Memorial and 319 at Rabindra Bharati University around 5 pm on Sunday, all categorised as very poor.
On the previous day, AQI of 336 (PM 2.5) was recorded in Bidhannagar, 320 at Victoria Memorial and 316 in Rabindra Bharati University, a WBPCB official said, emphasising that air quality almost remained the same and bursting of fireworks did not have any significant impact on it.
The Ballygunge air monitoring station recorded AQI of 269 on Sunday, less than Saturday's AQI of 294, he said.
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An AQI of 200-300 is classified as 'poor' and 300-400 is categorised as 'very poor' in environmental parlance.
Last year, the average AQI in the city in the late evening and midnight of December 31 and January 1 morning was 330 (PM 2.5), the official said.
Environmentalist S M Ghosh, however, claimed that firecrackers were burst throughout the city from Garia to Cossipore between 11.45 pm and 12.30 am and police did not take any action.
"Plumes of smoke hung in the air in the morning. This was partly triggered by bursting of firecrackers and partly by vehicular emission. WBPCB failed to prevent the entry of firecrackers into the city from manufacturing units in North and South 24 Parganas districts," he said.
Environment minister Manas Bhuniya had recently said that the administration will monitor the situation (bursting of firecrackers to welcome the new year).
He, however, added, "Unless people become aware of the perils of pollution and cooperate with us to follow rules and regulations, only administrative action will not solve the problem.