While the coronavirus outbreakhas been battering Madhya Pradesh's commercial capital Indore, the lockdown in place to combat it has also brought something to cheer about, a fall in pollution levels and temperature.According to officials, pollution has decreased by as much as 60 per cent while the maximum temperature has dipped by 4 degrees Celsius, mainly due to several lakh vehicles remaining off the roads since March 25.Indore, a city of 30 lakh people, has so far seen 1,029 COVID-19 cases, with 55 people dying of the infection."Since April 1, pollution has gone down by 60 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. This is obviously because of the lockdown. Vehicles are off the roads and industrial and commercial units are shut, all of which have reduced greenhouses gases and other pollutants," Dr Dilip Wagela, head of Indore-based State Pollution Control Board's regional laboratory, told PTI on Friday.Senior Meteorologist Vedprakash Singh Chandel of the IMD's Bhopal office said maximum temperature had dipped here during the lockdown.Singh said his analysis was based on studying April temperature patterns for the past eight years in Indore."During th past 8 years, in the first fortnight of April, the maximum temperature was in the 38-42 degrees Celsius range. Now, it is in the 36-38 degrees Celsius range," he said."In the second fortnight, for the past 8 years, the temperature has been between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius. It is currently between 39-41 degrees Celsius," he added.
