The Tribune , Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

Ghaziabad, November 1Ghaziabad has earned the dubious distinction of being the most polluted town of NCR, thanks to the indifferent attitude of the government officials, Nagar Nigam and the general public. As against the norms 200 SPM of air pollution, Ghaziabad has a level of 400 to 500 SPM. Similarly, smoke pollution level is over 100 decibels as against the normal level of 70 decibels. This trend has increased the incidence of ear, nose, throat and breathing ailments among the residents. Being an industrial town, the number of vehicles is also increasing in Ghaziabad adding to the air, sound and smoke pollution in the city. It is being reflected in increasing incidents of breathing, nasal, eyes and lungs problems among the residents. Up to September 04, there were over 2.12 lakh vehicles registered in the city, out of which 1,53,217 are two-wheelers while other were three and four-wheelers. Delhi has 42 lakh registered vehicles out of which some 37 lakh vehicles use Delhi roads every day. Ten per cent of Delhi vehicles are estimated to enter Ghaziabad daily. According to health department’s report, every third person in Delhi suffers from breathing problems with chances of brain and cancer due to pollution. Ghaziabad is also on the way to fall into the same trap. According to experts, 72% pollution is caused by vehicles, 20% by industry and 8% by domestic and other causes. Besides, over 64 thousand gen sets pollute the air in the Mahanagar, says Vijay Pal, an environmentalist. He says pollution is constantly increasing in Ghaziabad. All efforts to control pollution are confined to paper only. There are 12,740 registered and 20,000 unregistered industrial units in Ghaziabad, says Vijay Pal. Over 3.95 lakh vehicles use Ghaziabad roads daily which cause air and smoke pollution. During Diwali festival, pollution increases three to four times. Sleeplessness, heart problems, impaired hearing, lung and eye diseases are caused by pollution. According to Dr Anil Rathi, some of these can prove fatal.

SOURCE : The Tribune , Tuesday, November 02, 2004