Bangalore not breathing easy

Bangalore not breathing easy
Deccan Herald

A World Bank report has revealed that Bangalore’s air is worse than that of Hyderabad and Chennai with higher concentration of suspended particles, which chokes people’s airways...

A World Bank report has revealed that Bangalore’s air is worse than that of Hyderabad and Chennai with higher concentration of suspended particles, which chokes people’s airways. This makes the Garden City’s air more difficult to breathe.

Quoting data collected by the Central Pollution Control Board, the Bank report said that out of the 10 most polluted cities, Bangalore stands at number seven. Both Hyderabad and Chennai fared better.

In fact, Chennai and Bhopal are the only two cities among the first 10 where the amount of suspended particles in the city’s air is less than the national average of 60 micrograms per cubic mt.

On a bigger time scale the trends are slightly conflicting. While for larger cities including the metros, the amount of suspended particles has decreased between 1995 and 2004, the same is increasing for smaller cities like Bhopal, Nagpur, Jaipur, Kanpur, Surat, Faridabad and Vishakhapatnam within the same time slot. Incidentally, Kanpur is said to be the most polluted city in India. Besides the growing vehicle population and small and medium-size industries are contributing to a large extent in polluting the air, said the report.

Pollution generated from small-scale industries is higher per unit of production than that of the corresponding large units partly because of the use of obsolete technologies, poor management practices and partly because they do not come under the orbit of regulatory authorities, it said.

The estimated annual economic cost of damage to public health from increased air pollution in 50 cities with total population of 110 million stands at a whopping Rs 15,000 crore.

The report highlights another case study from Karnataka where the officials had failed to assess the local people’s needs while implementing large-scale infrastructure projects. The western transport corridor in the Aimangala region is the example.

While constructing the road due to lack of public consultation, the NHAI officials did not pay attention to the local community’s need of having an underpass.

The result is an unsafe and accident-prone road which could have been avoided had there been early consultation with the community, it said.

Choking city

*Bangalore is 7th most polluted city

*Chennai, Hyderabad fare better

*Kanpur most polluted

*Vehicles, medium & small industries clog the air

*Southern rivers cleaner than northern