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Kolkata has upstaged Delhi as the air pollution capital of India,
accounting for more deaths due to lung cancer and heart attack than the capital
city. More than 18 persons per one lakh people in Kolkata fall victim to lung cancer
every year compared to the next highest 13 per one lakh in Delhi, according to
environmental scientist and advisor of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute
(CNCI), Twisha Lahiri.
Not only lung cancer, cases of heart attack were also rising fast in the Eastern
metropolis, Lahiri said quoting a six-year survey conducted by the cancer
institute. She said incidents of heart attack were occurring more frequently in
the city.
CNCI scientists maintain that more than seven in 10 people here suffer from
various kinds of respiratory disorder, including children as well as elderly
people. Lahiri said roadside hawkers, shopowners, traffic policemen, auto-rickshaw
drivers, rickshaw-pullers and others who spend long hours on the road were the
most vulnerable. Children mainly suffer from breathing difficulties like asthma while elderly
people are victims of lung cancer, the scientists said. (published
in Business Standard on May 28, 2008) |
Howarh Bridge over Hooghly river. |
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To
protect Victoria Memorial
Environmentalist Subhas Dutta on Monday,
June 10, 2008 filed a petition in Calcutta High Court, alleging that the state government had failed to carry out court orders to protect the Victoria Memorial Hall from pollution. The order, passed on September 28 last year by a division bench, had asked the government to follow certain guidelines
to cut down on the pollution level around the monument.
“The court had directed the state government to shift the Esplanade bus terminus to a site at least three km away from the Memorial within six months. No action has yet been taken in this regard,’’ said Dutta.
The West Bengal
government issued the notification on March 28, 2008 acting on a six-month
old High Court Order. The order was the concern of High Court that
the relic of the Raj (Victoria Memorial) needs to be protected from
the defacing fumes that tandoors and barbecues emit. Hotels and
restaurants within a three-kilometers radius of Victoria Memorial
can no longer use the charcoal fired ovens to barbecue meat and fish
or cook tandoori food. |
Victoria Memorial |
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Air Pollution in Kolkata city.
An
ongoing global air pollution study by the Us-based National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has found that carbon
monoxide emitted by cars combine with nitrogen dioxide present in
the city atmosphere to cause serious damage to human lungs.
The research being carried out by the Ultra Violet Remote
Sensing Group under the atmospheric chemistry department of
Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, has also reveled that the bulk
of Kolkata's dust particles come from West Asia and the neighboring
regions.
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The study in its first phase, is being conducted with
the help of Ozone Monitoring Instrument, a satellite recording
images of air pollution across the globe. "The image
recorded before monsoon confirm that the dust particle in Calcutta
and other parts of Gangetic valley are blown in from outside,"
explained Pawan Kumar Bhartia, in charge of the project. "We
are in talks with Indian Space Research Organisation and other
Indian research institutes for studies on the ground and sea level.
Investigation into India's air pollution is a complex process, as
the direction of air flow changes through the
year."
The satellite images show
presence of layers of nitrogen dioxide and aerosols in the city's
atmosphere, Nitrogen dioxide, in the presence of sunlight, forms
ozone, which is extremely harmful for crops and lungs. While
nitrogen dioxide cannot move from one place to another, ozone flows
to other areas. "It is to be seen how much of the thick layer
of ozone over Kolkata has flown in from outside," said
Nasa scientist. The aerosol consists of solid dust particles and
sulphuric acid. "The dust particles are blown over the northern
part of India to Kolkata before they move south towards Bay of
Bengal," added Bhartia. According to him, dust particles can
travel 700 to 800 km in a day, which means they will take only a
couple of days to travel from Delhi to Kolkata.
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The thick layer of
ozone over Kolkata has flown in from outside," said Nasa
scientist.
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Air pollution suffocates
Kolkata
Some 70% of people in the city of Kolkata suffer from respiratory disorders caused by air pollution, a recent study by a prominent cancer institute in India has concluded. Ailments include lung cancer, breathing difficulties and
asthma, caused by air
pollution, the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) study says. The CNCI is one of India's foremost research bodies, and its investigation took six years to complete.
One of its key findings was a direct link between air pollution among the 18m people of
Kolkata and the high incidence of lung cancer. Kolkata tops all Indian cities when it comes to lung cancer - at 18.4 cases per 100,000 people - far ahead of Delhi at 13.34 cases per 100,000.
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Kolkata's air pollution results from
the horribly high levels of auto emissions. (Burbon
Road, Kolkata, packed all the time with mini -buses and buses. ) |
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The fuel of auto rickshaws is bad for air quality. The city's highly polluted air is leading to the growing number of lung cancer patients,"
says Twisha Lahiri, who conducted the CNCI study with five other researchers. The ideal count of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respiratory Particulate Matter (RPM) should not exceed 140 and 60 respectively. But
Kolkata's average SPM count is 211 and RPM count is 105. And in the worst polluted traffic intersections, this count can be double the city's average during busy hours.
"Kolkata's air pollution results from the horribly high levels of auto emissions which the authorities have failed to control so far. If this is not checked with a heavy hand, the impact on the health of
Kolkatan's, particularly children, will be devastating," says city doctor Parthasarthi
Dutta. Street side occupants - particularly the hawkers who sell stuff - are the worst sufferers , the CNCI study says.
It says that 79% of hawkers who spend a long time outdoors have suffered damaged lungs.
Environmentalist Subhas Dutta filed a public interest litigation in the Calcutta High Court in March this year, alleging that the West Bengal government was doing nothing to control air pollution levels.
The court ordered the government to reduce vehicle emissions. In May 2005, the government set a deadline which ordered all vehicles in Calcutta manufactured before 1990 either to be off the roads or convert to greener fuel like LPG.
Nearly 80% of the city's buses and trucks and nearly 50% of its taxis and auto-rickshaws would have gone off the roads if the government enforced its directive. "It would have thrown
Kolkata's transport system into chaos," says Madan Mitra of the Bengal Taxi Association. "The commuter would have suffered." But the Calcutta High Court quashed the government directive, and though the government challenged it in a higher bench, the case has yet to come up.
The worst offenders are around 50,000 auto rickshaws - half of them unregistered - who use
"kantatel". This is a fuel made out of a deadly concoction of kerosene and petrol. "The toxic fumes released by them pollutes the city's air more than anything else, but no one can touch the
auto- rickshaws because they have powerful trade unions," says environmentalist Subhas
Dutta. "It again becomes an employment issue," he said.
Polluted waters of the Ganges River after the immersion of Durga idols:
The Hooghly river was left so polluted after the first day of immersions that millions of fish and aquatic plants have been massacred, and anyone who went into the water faced the danger of falling severely ill due to zinc and heavy metal poisoning. The River Pollution Control Act categorically prohibits idol immersions in the river. Kolkata Municipal Corporation
also claiming to protect the Hooghly from pollution caused by immersions. Yet, all this has come to a naught.
Samples of water collected showed that dissolved oxygen had dipped to 2.1 mg per litre while the desired level is at least 5 mg per
litre. This is dangerous level as aquatic life cannot survive in such low oxygen content in water.
The volume of solid suspended matter as well as oil and grease in water were also alarmingly high.
The content of solid suspended matter in the water like zinc, aluminium and lead can affect those who bathe in the water leave alone those who drink
it,” said S M Ghosh of EMG.
City schools to fight global warming
KOLKATA , March 23,
2008: Inspired by sensitisation workshops conducted by global non-government organisation World Wildlife Fund for Nature, students of five schools- Carmel High, La Martiniere for Boys, Birla High, St James and Mahadevi Birla
- have begun chalking out strategies to reduce carbon emission by saving energy.
Urged by the students, the Carmel school principal has agreed to replace the conventional bulbs in the building with energy-saving lamps. Authorities at the other schools have also agreed to purchase only company fluorescent lamps
(CFLs) when conventional bulbs need to be replaced.
"While Carmel's CFL switch is a major step towards reduction in energy
consumption, nearly 50% of the lights in the other four schools will be
CFL- powered. If other schools follow suit, it could inspire offices and homes to act similarly, thereby making a positive impact on reduction in carbon emission,"
WWF-India state director Saswati Sen said.
"Since the schools we have been to till now are 'elite' ones and most students use personal transport, we have encouraged teachers to urge students to use pool cars or share their vehicles with fellow students.
Hence, if someone's coming to school from a particular locality, teachers are asking the student to find out if he can pick up two others for a day. The others can then take turns in picking him up for the next two days. This way, fuel can be saved, leading to reduction in carbon emission," Sen explained.
After the ongoing year-end examinations, WWF-India will conduct a similar exercise in 15 more schools including La Martiniere for Girls, St Xavier's, Future Foundation and Julien Day.
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