CHENNAI: Air pollution levels in the city increased manifold on Bhogi day s residents chose to discard the advisory from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and burned unused items in the name of tradition. Perungudi topped the list of most polluted localities, followed by Royapuram, Alandur, Kodambakkam, Anna Nagar, and Tondiarpet.
According to ambient air quality statistics released by the TNPCB, except Ambattur, all 14 zones of the Chennai Corporation recorded presence of Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) much higher than the permissible standard limit. This led to formation of thick fog over much of the city in the early hours of Wednesday.
Perungudi recorded the highest RSPM level with 262 µg/m3 while pre-Bhogi, the area recorded 113, still exceeding the limit. Royapuram with 231, Alandur with 228, Kodambakkam with 216, Anna Nagar with 213 and Tondiarpet with 206 all exceeded the standard permissible limit of 100 µg/m3.
Ambattur was the only zone to have recorded RSPM level below the permissible limit at 93. A release from TNPCB, however, attributed the smog also to high humidity and foggy conditions which made the local stable atmospheric conditions poor resulting in vertical mixing and low wind speed. Thick smog affected flight movement at the Chennai airport. As many as 34 flights were affected on Wednesday. Flights were affected from 7.15 am. The after effects lingered till after 9 am. Air India and Jet Airways had the most number of flights operating during that window.
