PUNE: Installation of noise barriers to reduce sound pollution at construction sites and increasing the number of public transport buses to encourage people to stop using their personal vehicles are some of the recommendations made by the environment status report (ESR) prepared by the PimpriChinchwad Municipal Corporation.
People can take to bicycling as cycle tracks have been developed on the Nashik phata-Wakad and Dangechowk-DehuAlandi road Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) corridors. With more use of public transport and people using cycles, air pollution would reduce, the ESR has said.
There are 31 crematoriums and 10 burial grounds in the city, of which two crematoriums run on diesel and electricity, while the remaining use wood, which causes air pollution. It is necessary that they run on CNG/LPG, the ESR stated.
The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the PCMC have jointly installed air quality monitoring station (AQMS) and display boards at various junctions. The readings show that the particulate matter (PM) 10 is above the permissible limit.
Environment expert Vikas Patil of the ParyavaranSanvardhanSamiti, said, "The buses in PimpriChinchwad are not linked to railway stations. There are no bus shelters and bus-timings display board and the buses don't even stick to the time-table. So people prefer to use private vehicles. Efforts should be first made to improve the public bus transport. The concept of cycle tracks has become obsolete in urban areas like PimpriChinchwad city as very few people use cycles as means of transport. Two- and three-wheelers must be allowed on the cycle tracks."
