Patna air quality monitoring has been expanded ahead of Diwali, with the Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) setting up a temporary network to measure changes in air pollution and noise levels across the city. The exercise will run from November 1 to November 15, covering the period before and after Diwali as well as the festival itself.
The board will track PM10, PM2.5, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides through air-quality measurements at designated locations. Air monitoring will continue round the clock, while manual noise monitoring will be carried out for six hours each day, from 6pm to midnight.
Temporary monitoring arrangements have been established at four sites: Boring Road crossing near Krishna Agency, Beltron Bhawan in Shastri Nagar, Parivesh Bhawan in the industrial area and the Geological Survey of India office in Kankarbagh. Officials will manually record noise levels at these locations, while air-quality measurements will also be collected at the designated sites.
According to BSPCB officials, the monitoring period is intended to create a comparison between pollution levels before, during and after Diwali. This will allow the board to assess changes across the wider festival period instead of relying only on readings recorded on the night of the celebrations. The exercise has been initiated amid expectations that fireworks could raise pollution levels in the city.
PM2.5 refers to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or smaller, while PM10 refers to particles measuring 10 micrometres or smaller. The board will also monitor sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, enabling it to track changes in both particulate pollution and gaseous pollutants during the monitoring period.
BSPCB will supplement the temporary network with data from its permanent air-quality monitoring stations. These stations are located at the DRM office campus in Khagaul, Patna City, S K Memorial Hall, the Planetarium, Eco Park and Samanpura. The combined data will provide readings from multiple parts of Patna during the pre- and post-Diwali period.
Noise pollution is also being monitored at permanent locations across the city, including the Chanakya National Law University campus, the DRM office, Rajkiya Mahila Mahavidyalaya at Gulzarbagh, Patna Dairy Project, the BDO office in Kumhrar, ITI Digha, the BSPCB air laboratory, Urja Auditorium and IGIMS.
The permissible noise limits differ according to the classification of an area. Industrial areas have prescribed limits of 75 decibels during the day and 70 decibels at night. The limits for commercial areas are 65 decibels during the day and 55 decibels at night. Residential areas have limits of 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night, while silence zones have limits of 50 decibels during the day and 40 decibels at night. The temporary monitoring exercise will continue until November 15, after which the board will have readings covering the period before and after Diwali.
