So, even as air pollution levels in major cities of Gujarat remain critically high, the state government plans to celebrate ‘World Environment Day’ by showing off what it did to better the air quality.

The National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP) ascribes a ‘critically high’ status to Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) levels above 90 microgram per cubic metre (Mig/cu mt) in residential areas. The suspended particulate matter (SPM) levels of these cities too have exceeded permissible limits of 120.

But experts concede that if dust corrupted the air in Ahmedabad, Surat fell victim to industrial pollution while Vadodara and Rajkot choked on vehicular emission. Consequently, doctors are seeing more patients of asthma, bronchial spasms and eye irritation.

"Credibility of these readings is questionable as the expansion of ambient air quality stations is slow. In the absence of a credible monitoring system it is difficult to know the quality of air we breathe,"says member of Ahmedabad’s Initiative for Reduction (of air pollution) Rahul Mangaonkar.

Officials in Surat admit that kerosene-run autorickshaws are responsible for air pollution. Says environmentalist Nimesh Vashi, "The presence of sulphur dioxide is quite high within Surat city limits due to vehicular emission, particularly at traffic junctions."

Carbon dioxide content was found higher than normal in Varachha, Mahidharpura and railway station areas. According to the 2003-2004 annual report of the central environment and forest ministry, the levels of volatile organic aromatic hydrocarbons like Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl Benzene and Xylene emitted from vehicles, exceeded desirable limits in Vadodara.

This report attributes the pollution to the number of vehicles which have grown faster than the population and the road infrastructure. The share of public transport is down to four per cent since 10 years ago in Vadodara. Add to this the chemical, petroleum and engineering industry around the city and you know why the SPM is high.

Chandrakant Kotecha of LIFE, a Rajkot-based environment group, says "Rajkot has changed in the last five years when one could at least find trees, now there is no green cover for over 200 meters". He attributes the pollution to the increased number of two wheelers and the kerosene-run autorickshaws.

Regional director of GPCB, N M Thebani, agrees, but says, "The level of kerosene-run rickshaws in Rajkot is within permissible limits."

In Ahmedabad there are 13 air quality monitoring stations but none of them are in Auda limits, so there is no way of knowing the pollution levels there. "It would be clear during winter whether pollution control norms were effective since the phenomenon of thermal inversion takes place in winter and the maximum amount of air pollution settles on the city,"says environment expert at Centre for Environment Education (CEE) Vivek Khadpekar. He says, "The number of buses coming inside the city should also be checked".

Health experts warn that if the present levels of pollution are not controlled, people could succumb to more complicated disorders besides allergies. "Air pollution caused by high SPM and RSPM levels normally affect our respiratory passages which supply oxygen. If the oxygen flow gets affected, weaker parts of the body might develop complications. People mainly complain of nasal blockages, bronchial spasms and eye irritation," says ENT specialist Dr Vinod Khandar.

Rajkot-based Dr TKM Eshwar says, "We have noted a 10 per cent increase in asthma and respiratory tract infection". He attributed this to vehicular emission especially by kerosene-run rickshaws.