GURGAON: A report by the Haryana State Pollution Control Board has revealed that air pollution in the city was down by 16% last Tuesday, on the second Car-Free Day.
Bhupinder Singh, regional officer, HSPCB, said a drop of 16% in air pollution level is an achievement. "Even though pollutant levels in the city are way beyond the permissible limits, it is good that some decrease has been witnessed. The city should carry on the momentum," said another senior official of the board.
A drop has been recorded in all major pollutants, including respirable suspended particulate matter (PM10), sulpher dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. While RSPM levels near Trident Hotel are usually around 350, it came down to 294 on Tuesday during peak hours. The other two locations of the Car-Free Day - Cyber City and Sector 39 - witnessed a drop of 22% and 11% in RSPM levels, respectively.
The levels of sulpher dioxide was down by 60% at Shankar Chowk and by 37.5% at Unitech Cyber Park. However, the level of the pollutants remained the same in Cyber City. A slight decrease was also reported in the levels of oxides of nitrogen. While there was 8% decrease in the level of nitrogen oxide near Shankar Chowk, 17% and 26% decrease was witnessed near Unitech Cyber Park and Cyber City respectively.
An increase in the PM10 levels in other zones of the city was recorded. The level of the pollutant at Rajiv Chowk, for instance, was slightly up. "As per the readings of our stationary air pollution monitoring system installed near Rajiv Chowk, PM10 level increased by 5%. It could be due to the diversion of traffic from car-free zones to NH8," said the official.
The pollution board installed portable ambient air quality monitoring system near Trident Hotel at Shankar Chowk, near DLF Building No. 10 in Cyber City and Unitech Cyber Park in Sector 39 - three locations where car-free zones were created. According to doctors, PM10 pollutants are tiny particles that interfere with respiratory actions, thereby putting stress on the heart, lungs and other vital organs.
"The exposure to such pollutants leads to shortness of breath, asthma and other respiratory diseases. If PM10 levels have come down, it is a good sign. However, I feel that there should be a mechanism to measure PM2.5 and PM5 too, as these are minute dust particles that go straight to the lungs," said Dr Raj Kumar, head of pulmology department, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute.
