The biggest auto cluster of the state with 3,000 units at Jawahar Autonagar, Industrial Estate, New Autonagar and other industries in the city are the major cause of increased industrial pollution. Besides this, every day as many as 2.30 lakh vehicles are plying on the city roads in which 31,000 are cars, 29,000 lorries, 9,000 auto-rickshaws and 1.30 lakh are motorcycles emanating harmful substances into the air.

Around 60,000 vehicles pass through the city on the Chennai-Kolkatta and Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highways every day causing air pollution.

The major cause of air pollution is increased vehicles and the absence of frequent pollution checks by the police department helps the pollution. Auto Nagar, Benz Circle, Police Control Room Junction, Eluru Road and Bandar Road are identified as high air pollution areas by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB).

The APPCB observed increase of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) to 95.2 micrograms per cubic meter, which was only 61.3 in 2009 and it might be nearer to 100 soon. The APPCB officials analysed that huge traffic is increasing dust as well as carbon monoxide levels in the air. Benz Circle is the most harmful place spreading dust in large scale.

The fly ash released from Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) is causing respiratory and other health difficulties to the people of the Ibrahimpatnam and adjacent areas on the city outskirts.

T Govardhan working in a mechanical unit at Autonagar lamented that he is suffering from bronchitis due to increased dust in Autonagar. Pulmonologist, Dr M Subba Rao said dust pollution causes asthma, bronchitis, silicosis, fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, shortness of breath and other respiratory difficulties. He said they are noticing a swift increase in patients with respiratory difficulties due to air pollution in the city for the past few years.

The APPCB had set up an electronic display at AIR Centre showing noise pollution levels and plans to set up a continuous ambient air quality monitoring system at the Municipal Guest House on Bandar Road to display the levels of sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and other chemical components in the air to bring about awareness about pollution among the citizens.

Ironically, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), due to the absence of required sewerage treatment plants, has been letting drainage water into Bandar, Eluru, and Ryves canals polluting canals.

As many as 3 lakh population residing in Ajitsinghnagar, Prakashnagar, Payakapuram, Vambay Colony, NSC Bose Nagar and other adjacent areas, where the poor and lower middle class people live, out of city’s total 14 lakh are facing health difficulties due to dumping of the city’s garbage at the abandoned Sriram Energy Plant.

The VMC is dumping sewage generated from One Town area into the eastern canal of Prakasam Barrage and it is visible in front of the VMC office. 32 open drain outlets are linked into Bandar Canal, 12 outlets into Eluru Canal and eight outlets into Ryves Canal in the city and they are polluting waters of the canals used for drinking and irrigation purposes in other villages.

Prof. MVS Raju of Siddhartha Engineering College has conducted research on contamination of ground water due to landfill leachate in the city. Raju said that ground water is not suitable for drinking and other domestic applications, since almost all of the parameters examined exceeded the permissible limits in majority areas of the city. Due to presence of concentrations of chlorides and high conductivity, city’s ground water is not suitable for vegetation.

Prof. M Sujata of KL University and Prof. T Satyanarayana and Prof. A Gopalakrishnaiah of SRK Institute of Technology had conducted research on groundwater quality in rural areas of the city and found the presence of higher concentrations of various hazardous chemicals in the ground water harmful for public health.

Senior physician, Dr K Rama Rao said many people in the slums and low lying colonies are forced to drink groundwater due to the absence of protected water and frequently falling ill to epidemics. He further said diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases became a common factor in Ajitsinghnagar and other areas of the city due to contamination of groundwater due to dumping of garbage.

Dr G Kota Reddy said people would get skin irritation, stomach cramps, vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle/joint pain, blisters in the mouth and liver damage due to drinking of sewer mixed water. He further said that animals, birds, and fish can also be poisoned by high levels of toxins in the canal waters.

Environmentalist Chaganti Venkateswarlu, who has been fighting against the pollution of the NTTPS, alleged that government itself was violating the norms by releasing fly ash from the NTTPS causing serious health difficulties to the public of Ibrahimpatnam and adjacent areas. He demanded use of the latest equipment at the NTTPS to check the pollution.