Kolkata inhales poison in every breath

The Times of India , Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Correspondent : Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay
KOLKATA: It's a known fact that depleting green cover and rapid increase in vehicular traffic are taking a toll on the city's ambient air quality. But how serious is the damage? If results of the tests conducted by the US embassy are anything to go by, it's time that the authorities sit up and take note of the grave situation.

These tests give us a clearer picture as they take into account fine particles less than 2.5 micron in diameter. These particles can aggravate lung disease, cause asthma attack and acute bronchitis. PM 2.5 is a standard recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), on the other hand, follows the PM 10 method that monitor only dust particles that are 10 microns in diameter.

Significantly, WBPCB has not been operating nine manual stations despite the Green Tribunal order for immediate operation of these centres. Only two automatic stations — one at Victoria Memorial and other on the Rabindra Bharati University campus — have been operating round the clock.

WBPCB chairman Kalyan Rudra said, "Manual monitoring station cannot be run round the clock. If they are run more than 24 hours, reading will be inaccurate. We are trying to set up more automatic monitoring centres. Two are in the pipeline — one in Howrah and the other in Durgapur."

The US Consulate General's air pollution monitor is has set the alarm bell ringing. From December 21 to 28, the concentration of fine particulate matter in the city's air remained unhealthy, varying from 234 g/m³ to 261g/m³. The permissible limit is 50. According to US health standard, such concentration of PM 2.5 may aggravate heart or lung diseases.

People with heart or lung diseases, older adults and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Others should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion, revealed US consulate cautionary words. "PM 2.5 is dangerous as these fine particles goes straight to our lungs and other vital organs and does the biggest harm," said an automobile pollution expert Somendramohan Ghosh.

WBPCB chief scientist Ujjwal Mukherjee said, "The reason for higher pollution level in the city is high concentration human activity like vehicular movement compared to other cities." Ghosh added that a meteoric rise of diesel-run vehicles has led to such high concentration of PM 2.5. It is high time to introduce bio-diesel. "Mixture of bio-diesel, extracted from the non-edible vegetable oils (like Jatropha seed oil) would not only lessen the pressure on foreign exchange exchequer but also reduce the pollution to a great extent. The direct mixture of 20% bio-diesel at the depot level is permissible in India," he added.

Earlier, Kolkata's ambient air was found most polluted among eight Asian countries — Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malayasia, India and Japan. The study was to identify the source of persistent organic pollutants. The research was undertaken by scientist Dr Mahua Saha at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Kolkata-inhales-poison-in-every-breath/articleshow/45695072.cms
 


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