Talk about air pollution in India and everybody thinks of the four metropolitan cities. But the ambient air quality in even smaller cities and towns is deteriorating alarmingly and in somecases much worse. In Lucknow, for example, the maximum level of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in1997 matched the highest levels recorded in Delhi. And if one person dies prematurely every hour in Delhi due to high SPM levels, the death count in Lucknow can well be imagined. The main reason for this is a sharp rise in polluting motor vehicles and mismanagement of publictransport. Rogue industrial units also play a hand. Although data about rising levels of air pollution is available, there are no programmes in any of these cities to counter the emerging public health disaster. How many will die before India has an effective national air quality management plan?
Polluted and ignored
Each resident of Delhi is familiar with it. And when friends and relatives from the smaller cities and towns of India come visiting, they hardly miss an opportunity to remind the residents of the extreme pollution in the capital. The time has now come for Delhiwallahs to start pointing out that the air of most smaller cities and towns in India is as polluted as Delhi, or is fast becoming so, even if it does not attract wide public attention. And if they scoff at it, wave some ambient air quality data from the Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb), New Delhi, under their noses (see graph: As polluted as Delhi, and getting worse). They will surely think about returning with a gas mask or two.
In 1997, an air quality monitoring station in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, recorded the maximum level of suspended particulate matter (spm) at 2,339 microgrammes per cubic metre (g/cum), more than 11 times the permissible limit for residential areas and four times the limit for industrial areas. This is as high as the maximum ever recorded in Delhi: 2,340 g/cum in 1992. What makes this seem even more dangerous is that the World Health Organisation says there are no safe limits of spm. The first comprehensive study on the link between air pollution and its health effects, conducted by the World Bank in 1995, held spm responsible for maximum deaths and health problems in 36 Indian cities. The Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, repeated the study in 1997 using data for 1995, and found that one person dies prematurely every hour in Delhi due to high spm load. It also found that premature deaths due to high spm levels had increased by 28 per cent in three years in the cities. The situation in Lucknow is not difficult to imagine.
Something terrible is going on in India's small cities. There are warning signals from whatever data is available -- and that is not much, as cpcb is yet to publish data for 1997, though it did share the data with Down To Earth. The latest data would provide a more accurate picture of the present status. Down To Earth sent its reporters to some small cities and towns with high levels of air pollution to obtain a clearer perspective of the main reasons for this. Although every city had a unique set of problems, there were some common to a majority of cities and towns. The reports overwhelmingly point to a steep rise in the number of polluting vehicles. Rogue industrial units are also to blame, but not as much as vehicles.
So, what is really happening? Simply put, the smaller cities are glaring examples of how public transport systems should not be managed. Cycles, cycle-rickshaws and horse-driven carriages called tongas formed the backbone of public transport till the recent past. But with the cities growing haphazardly, these were found to be inadequate. However, demand can create its own supply. Enter three-wheelers in large numbers. With the government providing cheap diesel in cities in the name of powering the tubewells of rural India, a huge majority of these three-wheelers converted to obsolete, polluting diesel-powered engines. These diesel-powered three-wheelers are today the bane of small-time urban India.
Further, those who had the money opted for two- wheelers, a majority of them using two-stroke technology that is highly polluting. The state governments, which control transport departments, are absolutely clueless about the magnitude of the problem. All they do is 'tailpipery' -- occasionally checking tailpipes and fining vehicles that do not have pollution under control certificates, which can be bought at a ridiculously low price without getting the vehicle checked. And the results are there for all to see.
A report released in January 1999 by the World Resources Institute of Washington, dc, pointed out that Rajkot in Gujarat is the fifth-most polluted city in the world with regard to air pollution. A monitoring station at Dehradun -- the town that has long been considered a haven for retired people to lead a peaceful, untroubled life -- registered the highest spm level recorded anywhere in the country in 1992, an unbelievable 4,809 g/cum.
Moreover, whatever action has been taken in the small towns has been driven by the judiciary, and not the state government, examples being the high courts in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. In general, the courts have come down heavily on obsolete diesel three-wheelers being used for public transport, directing that cleaner like battery-powered vehicles should be encouraged.
And then there is the old, oft-repeated story of polluting industrial units that give the impression that India does not have any pollution control laws and pollution control boards. Where does all this leave urban India? That much closer to a diseased half-existence with a poor quality of life. Or death.
The only way out involves at least two clear steps that need to be taken immediately:
• A composite air quality planning exercise on the national level needs to be undertaken. This would identify air pollution 'hot spots' and work out action plans with region-wise air quality targets; and
• An overhaul of public transport systems with a clear move away from vehicles using either diesel or two-stroke technology is a must. Easy loans for replacement of polluting vehicles with cleaner, more efficient ones are a must. There has to be an incentive for people to leave their vehicles home and use public transport.
As the following case studies show, these are not the suggestions of the average government committee but the urgent need of the hour, a desperate cry coming straight from diseased lungs.
| Smoke seekers |
| The level of monitoring is appaling in India. Delhi should have at least 60 stations but has only 7. The same is true for all town |
| |
Number of monitoring stations (1997) |
| Delhi |
7 |
| Shimla |
2 |
| Kanpur |
6 |
| Pondicherry |
3 |
| Kota |
3 |
| Gajraula |
2 |
| Lucknow |
3 |
| Dehradun |
2 |
| jaipur |
3 |
| Jammu |
Nil |
| Rohtak |
Nil |
Our respective hells
Lucknow
Let us start with Lucknow, which has given the country some of its most recognisable political faces. It was represented in the 12th Lok Sabha by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the prime minister of India. Lucknow qualifies for what the India media calls a 'vip constituency'. But if you look at the air quality statistics, you will begin to wonder why the prime minister's own constituency is in such a state.
In 1992, when Delhi recorded its highest ever maximum spm level at 2,340 g/cum, Lucknow reported a maximum of 254 g/cum. But since then, it rose steadily to 2,339 g/cum in 1997 - more than 11 times the permissible limit set by cpcb for a residential area (200 g/cum) and more than four times that for an industrial area (500 g/cum). On an average, the air of Lucknow throughout 1997 had two-and-a-half times more particles than is considered safe.
"Air pollution is a grave problem here and we have to acknowledge it," says Prem Narain, transport commissioner of the city. In the absence of major industrial units, vehicular emissions account for most of the air pollution. There is no regulated public transport system and the city has about 400,000 vehicles, of which 80 per cent are two-wheelers. For those who cannot afford private vehicles, the only option is the yellow-top, diesel-driven, smoke-belching three-wheeler called Vikram. There are about 7,500 Vikrams in Lucknow and their manufacturer, Scooters India Ltd (sil), a public-sector company, is located on the outskirts of the city. Health experts say prevalence of diseases related to airpollution is rising. H P Kumar, chief medical officer of Lucknow, says 70 per cent of the patients reporting at government hospitals suffer from bronchial asthma. He adds that air pollution also affects the digestive and reproductive systems.
So, what have the authorities done? Actually, very little. Checking tailpipes and fining vehicles without pollution under control (puc) certificates has been a total failure. One often spots a vehicle that has a puc but is emitting thick smoke. "Even if puc certificates are issued, nothing much can be done until a wholesome solution is found. The solution is to move towards electric vehicles or compressed natural gas (cng). Diesel vehicles have to be removed from the city roads," says C S Bhatt, member secretary, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board. However, Narain feels the time has not come for cng just yet.
An encouraging sign, as Narain informs, has been the active interest of the High Court (hc) in preventing pollution. Following hc orders, there has been an effort to replace diesel-powered Vikrams with battery-driven ones. "We will completely remove the diesel Vikrams from the roads of Lucknow," says Narain. But this exercise has been rather unsuccessful (see box: Diesel assault or battery).
A message for planners
Due to decades of neglect and indifference, air quality in Indian cities has worsened rapidly, triggering a serious public health crisis. Central and state governments are still at a loss in dealing with the problem and except Delhi, no city is taking effective steps to control pollution. Even in Delhi, the drive to deal with pollution is not coming from the government but the Supreme Court. Recently, high courts in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have clamped down on the polluting three-wheelers by either banning them or pushing them to run on cleaner fuels.
One serious problem is poor monitoring of air quality. Several small cities and towns are not covered by the monitoring grid of cpcb and the state pollution control boards (spcbs). It is important to have reliable data to understand trends -- not just of the few pollutants that are monitored today but also of other toxins released into the air, the levels of which could be very high, posing a serious health risk. The data should give a clear idea of emissions of gases that need to be controlled on priority. cpcb monitors only three pollutants on a routine basis: spm, nox and so2. Carbon monoxide is monitored at some sites on a limited scale. And there is no information on the levels of other air toxins such as ozone and benzene. It is not
possible to identify sources of air pollution and the precise strategies to target the polluters. There is no air quality modelling to work out these strategies and adopt clear air quality targets. Given the alarming levels of air pollution, India cannot afford to wait indefinitely for planning processes to take shape.
Weak institutions with almost no back-up of good science are partly to blame for this. spcbs draw considerable flak for not being technically competent enough to deal with the problem. There are allegations that appointments are politically motivated and not based on technical considerations. When B Sengupta, member secretary of cpcb, was asked to comment on the
technical prowess of spcb officials, he agreed that the top appointees of these boards do not have the required technical and scientific background. Transport department officials are totally at sea when it comes to the technicalities.
In some spcb offices visited by Down To Earth reporters, officials tried to justify air pollution in the name of industrial development. The data they generate is hardly ever publicised to let people know the air pollution levels in their cities. It has to be made clear that air quality monitoring is not a mere academic exercise but a means to improve living conditions.
"SPCBs are interested only in industrial air pollution and not in vehicular pollution. For one, inventories of the pollution sources are a must at the city level," says S A Dutta, scientist and vehicular air pollution expert at cpcb, New Delhi. He believes that in the absence of other systems of public transport, the state road transport corporations can be asked to take up local transport as well: "They already have the infrastructure. And if it is difficult to ply large buses on narrow streets, they can resort to mini-buses or other such medium-sized vehicles."
A national initiative
"We need a composite air quality planning exercise on a national level to identify pollution 'hot spots' and work out an action plan with city-wise air quality targets," says Anumita Roychowdhury, coordinator of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment's (cse's) Right To Clean Air Campaign (see box: Blueprint of an action plan). She also points to the 1996 cse publication Slow Murder: The deadly story of vehicular pollution in India, which says the following: "A National Vehicular Pollution Prevention Commission should be set up by the government of India, comprising not of ministers and bureaucrats... but of technical and medical experts, industrialists and public-spirited environmentalists."
But a national-level body does not free the states of their responsibility. "Wherever Vikrams have been banned, no alternatives have been provided to the commuter. Naturally,
a two-wheeler is an easy solution. This means you cannot solve the pollution problem without effective policy measures. In this situation, it is not free enterprise but the government which has to do the needful," says Dinesh Mohan, professor and coordinator, Transport Research and Injury Prevention Programme of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. Any mention of the government brings in the responsibility on the electorate. The civil society has to take the lead in making people aware of the abysmal air quality and put pressure on the state governments to get their act together.
Reported by Kazimuddin Ahmed, Mridula Chettri, S S Jeevan, Sopan Joshi, C Lianchawii and Aju Mukhupadhyay.
DEHRADUN
It is a sight which Suresh Rawat, a hotelier in the hill station of Mussourie that overlooks the town of Dehradun in Uttar Pradesh, could do without. Every winter, thick blue smoke envelops this town, casting a shadow on one of the most picturesque valleys in Asia. "Doon is a broad valley. This sometimes gives rise to a lateral inversion that does not allow hot air to rise from the valley. As a result the smoke settles over the valley," says Hugh Gantzer, resident of Mussourie and a member of a monitoring committee set up by the Supreme Court to restore the "natural normalcy of the Doon Valley".
Down in the valley, Tarun Pal, a resident of Dehradun, is wary of the first rains of the monsoon. "They leave scars on my car," he says. "I am sure that the rains here are acidic, although no studies have been conducted," says Anoop Kumar, editor of Doon City Chronicle, a local magazine.
Air pollution in Dehradun has been in the headlines for some time now. More than a decade ago it was limestone mining, but this was banned in 1986 by the Supreme Court in response to a public interest petition. "Although the spm levels have shown a downward trend over the years, they are still above the prescribed limits at all the monitoring sites in Dehradun," says Shobha Chaturvedi, assistant scientific officer with the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (uppcb). In 1997, the city's annual average spm level was more than twice the permissible limit and the maximum spm level was more than thrice the standard. Moreover, spm levels were higher in residential areas compared to industrial areas.
Today, vehicular emissions are the main reason for air pollution. According to the road transport authority, only 10,000 vehicles were registered in Dehradun between 1937 and 1967. There are more than 126,452 vehicles plying on the roads at present, more than 100,000 of these are two-wheelers. However, the length and width of roads have increased only marginally. Result: traffic congestion. "Air pollution is concentrated in the middle of the town. The Saharanpur road, Gandhi road and the Railway station areas are the most polluted areas," says Kumar.
A study by the Dehradun-based People's Science Institute (psi), a non-governmental organisation, says, "The abnormally high levels of spm in Dehradun are mainly due to natural dust and particulate-laden smoke from diesel-fuelled vehicles, especially Vikrams, trucks, buses and three-wheelers." The impact on public health has been telling. psi functionaries say the prevalence of respiratory diseases has risen alarmingly over the past decade and most cases are linked to air pollution. The institute conducted a study in which it selected a few plants and monitored the growth of their leaves at four sites in the town and one control site far away from the town. "We found that the growth of the bougainvillaea, lantana, litchi and mango was severely hampered by air pollution. However, some pollution-tolerant plants like jambolan (jamun) were not affected," says Anita Dutta of PSI.
"Vikrams are petrol-driven, but the replacement rate of petrol engines by diesel engines is about 99 per cent," Kumar says. Officially, about 2,050 Vikrams are registered in the town. "But there are several Vikrams registered in nearby towns like Saharanpur plying in Dehradun," says Ravi Chopra of PSI.
Another cause for concern are two-wheelers. "In the absence of a public transport system - and Vikrams being the only alternative - most middle-class people prefer scooters," says Gantzer. "There is also a class distinction attached with Vikrams. Most people prefer their own vehicles," adds Kumar. He points out that a survey conducted in the late 1980s revealed that on an average, each Dehradun family owned two vehicles. In some cases it was even three. "This number must have increased considerably by now," Kumar comments. Till a viable alternative is found to Vikrams, the sight that a tourist will behold from Mussourie, will not be a pleasant one.
GAJARAULA
There is no evidence more conclusive about the state of air pollution in Gajraula, a sleepy industrial town in Uttar Pradesh, than the air itself. As one enters the town, breathing becomes difficult. "The residents of the town have got used to the air quality. But visitors generally have difficulty in breathing," says an engineer who works in one of the polluting industrial units. cpcb data for 1997 show both the maximum and average levels of spm way above the prescribed limit.
Gajraula was declared an industrial town in 1981-82. Within a few years, a number of industrial units - mainly chemical and pharmaceutical factories - sprung up. "After the setting up of these units, air pollution has increased at an alarming rate. We do not know what the pollution control board officials are doing. I am sure that these officials are fudging the data, because if an independent study is conducted, the figures would be higher," says Jitendra M Shukla, president, Nagrik Suraksha Samithi, a local organisation campaigning against industrial pollution.
A visit to the office of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (uppcb) in Moradabad can be quite revealing. Although admitting that industrial units are polluting the air, the regional officer, R C Chowdary, says pollution is only to be expected in an industrial town. "The industrial units have installed pollution control equipment," he justifies. "We have all the requisite pollution control equipment," says Ajay Jain of J K Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Then why is the air polluted? "Poor enforcement," explains Shukla. Repeated visits by the Down To Earth reporter to the uppcb monitoring station in the town proved futile as there was nobody at the office. cpcb officials in Delhi reveal that of the 20 large- and medium-scale industrial units in Gajraula, nine are classified as polluting.
The health of the residents is in jeopardy. There has been a steep rise in prevalence of asthma, respiratory problems and lung diseases after the industries have come up. Says N Mathur, superintendent of the government hospital in Gajraula: "Sixty-seventy per cent of my patients complain of respiratory problems. Cases of chronic lung problems are increasing. In 1985-86, I used to get an average 5-10 patients every month with respiratory problems. Now it is 30-40 patients," he says. Many of his patients are employed in the industrial units.
Cultivable land has undergone a change after the setting up of the industrial units. Mango, that was extens
ively cultivated here, has now been replaced by sugarcane and rice. "My mango trees were affected by air pollution from industrial units," says Tirath Ram, whose fields lie just outside the town, and who has now given up growing mango trees. Surely, if scientific studies are conducted on the state of air pollution in Gajraula, the results will be alarming. Till then, the town continues to suffer in silence.
ROHTAK
For Harish Chandra, who retired as professor from the Maharishi Dayanand University in the town of Rohtak, Haryana, things have changed a lot since the dayshe used to travel by horse-driven tongas to college. "Now, there are about 6,000 auto-rickshaws," he says. Asserts Jasphool Singh, editor of Paryavaran Vahini, a monthly environmental magazine in Rohtak: "Plenty of condemned three-wheelers from Delhi enter Rohtak every day."
According to him, the town has the highest number of three-wheelers in the state. "Officials are given Rs 3,000 for every condemned three-wheeler entering Rohtak," he points out. Noisy, antiquated, diesel-driven auto-rickshaws have become a common sight on the streets of Rohtak. They are fast replacing non-polluting public conveyances like cyclesand cycle-rickshaws. But the town does not have any air pollution monitoring, and there are no scientific estimates of the pollution levels.
Officials at the regional transport authority (rta) deny any increase in air pollution, saying the pollution level is 'relatively low'. "If vehicles are increasing in number, why would pollution not increase?" asks J S Sangwan, secretary, rta. "These are all signs of development," he adds. The latest official data indicate only 3,690 auto-rickshaws in Rohtak. However, the count could be thrice as much if the rejected ones from Delhi are taken into account, Harish Chandra points out. "Most of these three-wheelers run either on diesel or on diesel mixed with kerosene," Singh explains.
Officials of the Haryana Pollution Control Board (hpcb) are no better than transport officials. "There is no pollution of any sort in Rohtak," asserts O P Dahiya, regional officer of hpcb. However, Singh says there is no way they could be unaware of the numerous polluting industrial units that are functioning illegally in Rohtak. "But money keeps them quiet and they turn a blind eye to all this," he alleges. In particular, he points out to the lead acid battery factories that have sprung up close to the town. "hpcb sealed 11 such units, but some are still operating clandestinely," he says. "When these batteries are broken down and burnt, they emit very high amounts of lead that are 500 times the permissible limit. Workers cannotsurvive for more than six months," he warns.
There are only two hpcb officials to monitor the operations of 180 industrial units in the three districts of Rohtak, Bahadurgarh and Jhajjar. "Checks are conducted only once or twice a year," says S P Rathi, assistant environmental engineer, hpcb, Bahadurgarh. According to him, they have "instructions from authorities to conduct only one or two visits to a particular unit a year". S K Rohilla, senior scientist at hpcb in Chandigarh, says 70 per cent of the industrial units are equipped with air pollution control equipment. "So there is no cause for worry when it comes to industrial pollution," he points out.
However, Sanjay Ahlawat, a journalist from Rohtak now based in Delhi, has a different story: "After the Supreme Court's order asking polluting industrial units to vacate Delhi, most of them moved to the outskirts, taking over agricultural lands. Some reached as far as Rohtak. Now, there are no agricultural lands left." And what happened to the farmers of these lands? "They buy condemned or second-hand vehicles and use them as passenger vehicles to ply in and around Rohtak," says Ahlawat, pointing to the other source of increasing air pollution.
KANPUR
If you go out in the city wearing a white shirt, after a couple of hours you willwonder if the black shirt you are wearing is really yours," says S K Katiar, chiefphysician, M L Chest Hospital, Kanpur. For a while now, Kanpur's air quality has been quite bad, with the annual average spm level hovering over 400 g/cum and the maximum spm level clocking well over 1,000 g/cum. Air monitoring data for 1997 reveals a strange phenomenon: pollution levels are higher in residential areas as compared to industrial areas. This makes it clear that vehicular exhaust, particularly from Vikrams, contributes significantly to air pollution in this amazingly congested city. "Industrial pollution does not immediately affect the city of Kanpur as does vehicular pollution," says Dipankar Saha, a scientist at cpcb, Kanpur. Another important source of air pollution is domestic fuel consumption - the city's poor population burns a huge amount of coal and firewood.
The city of 2.5 million people has about 350,000 vehicles - 85 per cent of them two-wheelers. cpcb data shows vehicles release a colossal 3.55 tonnes of pollutants in Kanpur's air of every hour. V K Singh, regional transport officer, Kanpur, points out that traffic congestion, particularly at railway level crossings, is a significant cause of air pollution. The average speed of vehicles on Kanpur roads is only 19 km/hour.
Records at the transport department show that the city has more than 4,400 Vikrams. "Vikrams are indeed very polluting. We have not been registering Vikrams for the last two years," says V K Singh. But this does not matter. Satyam Audichya, a driver in Kanpur, says there are about 3,000 unregistered Vikrams in the city thanks to the bribes doled out to officials. He once used to drive an unregistered Vikram. "We need a good public transport system as well as promotion of clean fuels like cng and battery-operated vehicles backed by financial incentives for people to switch to cleaner modes of transport. Although we have sent several proposals to the government, we are yet to get a positive response," says a top government official, asking not to be named.
And then there is the city's domestic consumption of fuels, which accounts for about 5 tonnes of dangerous pollutants each day, Saha points out. The city burns an unbelievable 300 tonnes of coal, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas (lpg), wood and other fuels every day. The result is the daily emission of about 850 kg of particulate matter, one tonne of so2, 600 kg of nox and a whopping 3,500 kg of co. Industry is not to be left far behind. cpcb data shows 75 large- and medium-scale industrial units and 5,457 small-scale ones in Kanpur. Major polluters include the thermal power plant and fertiliser units in the Panki industrial area of Kanpur, according to Saha.
There has been a tremendous increase in the prevalence of bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer in Kanpur, says Katiar, emphasising that this is linked to air pollution. He adds that there are a large number of cases of tuberculosis, which are also related to air pollution. There has also been a steep rise in the incidence of interstitial fibrosis, a crippling disease of the lungs that leads to death, Katiar points out. If there is one city that seems to be headed towards a silent public health disaster, it is definitely Kanpur.
PONDICHERRY
One of the most densely populated areas in India, the union territory of Pondicherry has 1,642 persons per sq km. Its air is also one of the densest in the country (see box: Unclean air). In 1997, the maximum levels of both spm and so2 were about three times the permissible limits, while that of nox was more than two times the permissible limit (see graph: Pondicherry: high on gases). Pondicherry is one of very few cities - and the only one among the Down To Earth case studies - where the maximum levels of all the parameters were way above the safe limit in 1997. And this has been the pattern since monitoring started in 1988.
Industrial growth has been totally unregulated in Pondicherry and its industrial policy was declared for the first time only in 1997. By then, considerable damage had already been done. As of September 1998, there were 6,038 industrial units in Pondicherry, of which 136 are in the large- and medium-scale sectors. The government has declared a number of sops for industries to be set up here. But several newspaper articles began questioning the environmental impact of this "open-door industrial policy". Now, licences to establish industrial units in the area are not being given anymore, says U Sridharan, director of the department of science,technology and environment.
However, according to C B S R Sharma of Pondicherry University's Salim Ali School of Ecology and Environmental Science, air pollution is most frequently caused by automobile exhaust. The number of vehicles registered in Pondicherry has almost doubled from 79,748 in 1991 to 152,719 in 1998. In the same period, the number of vehicles for transport of goods, which mostly run on diesel, almost tripled - from 1,794 to 5,000. Not surprisingly, air pollution has also increased. What makes the situation worse are malpractices such as adulteration of fuel. There are reports that auto-rickshaw drivers purchase kerosene from the black market to mix with petrol in order to save money.
Rather than work out measures to control air pollution, the Pondicherry government has clearly been too busy trying to make room for industry. A remark by Shivamani, an officer at the directorate of industries, speaks volumes about this. The government, he said, is interested in bringing in more industries and not in finding fault with them. With government officials showing such abject lack of concern for the environment and public health, hope is slim if you are a resident of Pondicherry.
KOTA
"Kota is fast becoming like Delhi in matters of pollution. What we have here is an exploding situation," says Nishith Arora, a dentist living in Kota. The story of airpollution in the Rajasthan city begins with industry and ends with vehicles.
Kota is known for stone mining, mineral-based industries, cement factories, fertiliser and chemical units, and plants that produce synthetic fibres, textile and rayon. A number of polluting industrial units have been closed down in Kota following a Supreme Court order and the Rajasthan Pollution Control Board (rpcb) claims that air pollution levels have been falling. Yet, there are 35 large- and medium-scale industrial units and about 5,000 small-scale units in and around Kota, according to the District Industrial Centre. "Industrial air pollution is prevalent in Kota due to coal/gas-based thermal power plants, calcium carbide (and) nitrogenous fertiliser (units), steam generating boilers, and cement factories...." says the 1996-97 annual report of RPCB."The thermal power plant and its units are highly polluting," says Rajeev Pareek, regional officer, rpcb, Kota. "During winter, my car gathers a thick layer of coal dust if it is parked in the open, although [pollution] is a little lower in summer," says Ram Pal, senior physician and cardiac specialist in the medical college and mbs hospital, Kota.
According to D C Sharma, senior scientific project officer, rpcb, industry's contribution to air pollution has come down comparatively due to closing down of several polluting units and adoption of processes like reuse of waste. RPCB's air quality data reveal that spm is at a steady level in Anantpura, an industrial area, while it is increasing in the commercial area near the veterinary hospital - a clear pointer to rising vehicular emissions. rpcb officials also note that while Kota's spm level is decreasing, the nox and so2 levels are increasing. "In the present scenario, vehicular pollution accounts for 90 per cent of the air pollution in Kota," says Pareek.
The growing threat
Between 1976 and 1998, almost 1.8 million vehicles were registered in Kota - 76.7 per cent of them two-wheelers and almost all of them two-stroke. Diesel vehicles constitute 16.38 per cent of the total count, while petrol-driven four-wheelers comprise a mere seven per cent. Kota is also teeming with diesel-powered three-wheelers called tempos. And then there are hundreds of vehicles that pass along National Highway-12 that goes right through the heart of the city. According to Darshan Kumar, a contractor of a toll tax collection booth in Kota, a minimum of 2,000 vehicles pass through Kota everyday and "80 per cent of them are trucks". He estimates that the number of vehicles increases by at least 10 per cent each year.
"Due to the air pollution, you can find a lot of chronic diseases in Kota," says Anil Saxena, a physician at the mbs Hospital. "I have seen a rise in cases of allergies," says S P Srivastava, superintendent of the hospital. "Of the 150-odd cases of respiratory diseases that we get every day, more than 40 per cent are directly related to air pollution," says Saxena. He says that the lead content in the ambient air is very high. Lead can get deposited in bones and in soft tissues, especially among children, and affect intelligence and behaviour.
So who will address the issue? "We look after only industrial pollution, not vehicular pollution," says Pareek. The responsibility for that rests with the state's department of transport, he adds. Vehicles are checked for emission levels at a couple of fuel stations where pollution under control certificates are issued. This, quite obviously, is a farce.
The officials of the regional transport office (RTO) are not bothered. There are no records of vehicles checked for pollution. The regional transport officer himself was vague about the issue of pollution control: "I do not know anything about it. I have to read about all this." Says G K Gupta, a motor vehicle inspector in Kota: "We neither have the expertise nor the resources to carry out a large-scale pollution control drive." There seems to be absolutely no coordination between rpcb and the transport officials. Typical bureaucratic functioning is primarily to blame for the air pollution in Kota, rather than industry or vehicle owners.
JAMMU
"In Jammu, 90 per cent of air pollution is vehicular," says A B Jandiyal, environmental engineer with the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board (j&kpcb). A cpcb report has already branded Jammu as one of the most polluted cities of the country. Yet no regular monitoring of the ambient air is conducted. Barring one study each by j&kpcb and cpcb, which showed an alarming picture, there is no other data.
In December 1996, cpcb found that the spm level during the daytime at Satwari Chowk, a commercial area, was about 10 times the permissible limit at 1,915 g/cum. Two other sites had spm levels above the 1,000 g/cum mark. Among the 12 sites where monitoring was done, the lowest figure recorded was 190 g/cum, which is barely under the permissible limit. "The excess concentration of spm in the atmospheric air may be attributed to the excess number of vehicles plying on the roads during day hours. Moreover, the dispersion of spm and other pollutants is being hampered as the city is located in a valley," notes the cpcb report.
When j&kpcb monitored the ambient air in December 1997, the results were worse. The lowest level was 370 g/cum and the highest was 1,635 g/cum (see graph: Jammu's heavy air). Of the 11 sites where monitoring was conducted, six recorded levels well above the 1,000 g/cum mark. Beyond this, there are no scientific estimates of air pollution in Jammu. Jandiyal says the problem is of humanpower: "We have state-of-the-art machinery, but we do not have qualified people to operate them." M A Waheed Dewa, senior scientist at j&kpcb, Srinagar, differs on the availability of equipment: "j&kpcb is grossly understaffed and we do not even have the monitoring equipment." Inayat-ul-Khan, member secretary, j&kpcb, says, "Due to militancy in the Kashmir Valley, work has come to a standstill during the past 10 years."
Jammu is a concrete jungle teeming with buildings, vehicles and people. The population has increased from 260,000 in 1981 to 425,000 in 1994-95. The local people are unaware of the rising pollution levels in their city and those who know about the existence of j&kpcb dismiss it as a defunct organisation. The city urgently needs regular monitoring. That the city is situated in a valley makes it all the more important as pollution tends to linger and the phenomenon of inversion becomes a serious problem during winter.
JAIPUR
"In Jaipur city, there are no major air polluting industrial units. Most are small-scale textile units and cause water pollution, not air pollution. The main culprit of air pollution is vehicles," says Rajesh Thakuria, regional officer, rpcb. According to Balakant Sharma, statistical officer at the transport office in Jaipur, the vehicular population in the capital of Rajasthan has increased six times between 1980-81 and 1998-99 - from 81,267 to 544,556. As much as 78 per cent of the vehicles in the city today are two-wheelers.
Jaipur accounts for over 25 per cent of the total vehicles and the pollution load in the state, according to the rpcb's 1996-97 annual report. The total pollution load on account of vehicular pollution is estimated to be around 280 tonnes per day in Jaipur, the report says. According to cpcb data, the maximum spm level recorded in the city in 1997 was almost three times the permissible limit, with the maximum level of nox exceeding the permissible limit at 108 g/cum.
But according to a random assessment of air quality at49locations in Jaipur by rpcb in February and March 1997, the maximum level was an unbelievable 3,111 g/cum in a commercial area. Even the minimum level recorded at this location was 239 g/cum. Another interesting fact revealed in this assessment was that the levels of nox and so2 dropped on Sundays, when vehicular traffic is lower than on weekdays.
In 1992-93 and 1993-94, rpcb carried out an extensive vehicular monitoring programme at various points in Jaipur. The result showed that emissions from 30 per cent ofpetrol-driven vehicles exceeded the permissible limits, while the figure was 90 per cent for diesel-driven vehicles.
"One of the main culprits used to be the Vikram," says Sharma. The Jaipur high court banned Vikrams in 1996, he points out. "Now the air pollution scenario is a lot better in Jaipur city, but the problem is that most of these banned Vikrams are now plying on rural and semi-urban routes. So it is just a case of shifting the venue of pollution," he explains.
"Rajasthan should not have the same standards as elsewhere for judging air pollution levels. The background level of spm itself is very high because of the sandy soil here. In summer, particularly, the wind blows the sand into the air, increasing the spm level," says S K Shukla, law officer, rpcb. These factors should be taken into account while prescribing limits, he emphasises. However, A S Bhargava, member secretary, rpcb, disagrees. "The background levels have nothing to do with the standards. It does not interfere with the monitoring at all," he says. Perhaps it is too much to hope that officials who cannot even agree with each other will effectively control air pollution.
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