Potential hotspot modeling and monitoring of PM(2.5) concentration for sustainable environmental health in Maharashtra, India

Modern human civilization has suffered from the disastrous impact of COVID-19, but it teaches us the lesson that the environment can restore its stability without human activity. The Government of India (GOI) has launched many strategies to prevent the situation of COVID-19, including a lockdown that has a great impact on the environment. The present study focuses on the analysis of Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM(2.5)) concentration levels in pre-locking, lockdown, and unlocking phases across ten major cities of Maharashtra (MH) that were the COVID hotspot of India during the COVID-19 outbreak; phase-wise and year-wise (2018–2020) hotspot analysis, box diagram and line graph methods were used to assess spatial variation in PM(2.5) across MH cities. Our study showed that the PM(2.5) concentration level was severe at pre-lockdown stage (January–March) and it decreased dramatically at the lockdown stage, later it also increased in its previous position at the unlocking stages, i.e., PM(2.5) decreased dramatically (59%) during the lockdown period compared to the pre-lockdown period due to the shutdown of outdoor activities. It returns to its previous position due to the unlocking situation and increases (70%) compared to the lockdown period which illustrated the ups and downs of PM(2.5) and ensures the position of different cities in the Air Quality Index (AQI) categories at different times. In the pre-lockdown phase, maximum PM(2.5) concentration was in Navi Mumbai (NAV) (358) and Mumbai (MUM) (338), and Pune (PUN) (335) and Nashik NAS (325) subsequently, whereas at the last of the lockdown phase, it becomes Chandrapur (CHN) (82), Nagpur (NAG) (76), and Solapur (SOL) (45) subsequently. Hence, the restoration of the environment during the lockdown phase was temporary rather than permanent. Therefore, our findings propose that several effective policies of government such as relocation of polluting industries, short-term lockdown, odd–even vehicle number, installation of air purifier, and government strict initiatives are needed in making a sustainable environment.