COVID-19: Boon for Environment Bane for Economy. Air quality Assessment of Punjab during Lockdown

Abstract:

COVID-19, started from Wuhan city of China, with movement of people it slowly spread worldwide and became a pandemic. To contain the spread few countries established 14 -28 days restrictions on movement. Efforts were made at local, national and international level in forms of curfew, lockdown and social distancing protocols. In India, a Janata (People’s) Curfew was enforced on March 22, 2020. With its successful completion to restrain the spread, a complete lockdown was enforced from March 23 till May 30, 2020 in staggered phases. Strict movement regulations were enforced during this period. .Consequently, this improved the visible air quality and it proved to be a boon for environment in India. In this study, air quality of Punjab during the months of February-April has been analysed for 2005 to 2020. Data sets used in this work were downloaded from the Giovanni online data system, developed and maintained by the NASA GES DISC. PM2.5 and PM10 data was downloaded from Central Pollution Control Board for Ludhiana, Punjab. The parameters analysed were AOD, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulfur dioxide, PM2.5 and PM10. These parameters show an increasing trend since 2005. However, a sudden decrease was observed due to lockdown and curfew. It was observed that in the month of February, AOD decreased 17.33% (2019-2020). Furthermore, SO₂ decreased 57% in Feb,2020 as compared to Feb,2019. Similarly, in March AOD decreased 13% during 2020-2017 and 7% during 2020-2016. Also, AOD decreased 42.96% as compared to 2018. In case of PM_2.5 during the month of March, a decrease of 41% in 2020 has been observed with respect to 2019 and 40.32% with respect to 2018. During April PM_2.5 decreased 57% as compared to 2019 and 63% as compared to 2018. Moreover, PM₁₀ has decreased 47.96% in April as compared to 2019. Similarly, it has decreased 67.60% in April with respect to 2018.It is quite evident that actions taken as preventive measures for handling COVID-19 became a boon for the environment. However, it has accelerated the economic recession faced by a developing India. Many people have lost their jobs which mainly include the daily earning wagers. The quarterly GDP growth has also fallen during this period. On the other hand, monthly analysis shows that even small temporal measure can have a collective positive effect in improving the planet health as well as human health.