The City Beautiful is falling into the grip of multi-pollutant crisis. Chandigarh has a high concentration of PM10 (particulate matters with diameter of 10 microns or less) and PM2.5 (particulate matters less than 2.5 microns)-form of air pollution, which is considered most serious.
According to the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) study on pollution levels in 1,600 cities across the world, Chandigarh has high PM10 concentration of 105 micrograms per cubic metre.
In terms of fine particulate matter PM2.5, which originates primarily from vehicular and industrial emissions, Chandigarh’s air recorded concentration of 46 micrograms per cubic metres. PM 2.5 (particles with diameter of 2.5 microns) are considered most serious and can cause respiratory diseases and other health problems.
“In India, Gwalior tops Indian cities in air pollution in terms of PM10, recording 329 micrograms per cubic metre while Raipur comes second at 305. The national Capital Delhi ranks third with 286 micrograms per cubic metre of PM10. In terms of fine particulate matter PM2.5, Delhi tops the Indian cities recording 153 microgrames per cubic metre,” as per the WHO report.
Both the PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentration in Chandigarh’s air is much more than the permissible limits. The WHO guideline values for particulate matter are 20 µg/m3 for PM10, and 10 µg/m3 for PM2.5, respectively. At present, Chandigarh faces a major challenge due to continuous growth of urban population, private vehicle ownership, congestion and also due to the fragility of public transport here. Notably, a Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests in a recent report had expressed its serious concerns over the rapid rise in all types of pollution and had said that unless some serious and effective steps are taken by the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board), the situation would continue to go from bad to worse; assume alarming proportions in days to come and prove to be detrimental for the entire country.
The Committee had recommended that the zonal office of CPCB proposed to be opened in Chandigarh must be expedited and made functional at the earliest possible. Efforts should also be made to further increase the number of zonal offices in India so that effective and successful monitoring of projects / polluting units could be undertaken. Besides, the report of CPCB for strengthening the existing zonal offices of CPCB must also be given due consideration and follow up action on it be taken in a time bound manner,” recommended the Parliamentary Committee.
On the issue of increasing air pollution level in Chandigarh, Santosh Kumar, Director, UT Environment Department said, “The burgeoning vehicular population in Chandigarh is a threat to city’s air quality.” He said: “Though a slight fall has also been recorded in the pollution level in last couple of years, the situation still remains concerning in some parts of Chandigarh specially Sector 17 and Industrial area.”
As per the official statistics concerning air pollution of last one decade in Chandigarh, the Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) exceeds the permissible limits at several primary locations of the city. According to the data of Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC), RSPM levels exceeds the permissible limits of 60 µg/m3 while Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen oxide are below the permissible limits of 40 -60 µg/m3 at five locations in the city including Sector 17, Industrial Area, Punjab Engineering College, IMTECH Sector 39, and Kaimbwala village. Both RSPM and SPM levels usually exceed permissible levels for annual averages in Industrial Area, Punjab Engineering College, IMTECH Sector 30 and village Kaimbwala. The CPCC had last year recorded RSPM levels of 100 µg/m3 at Sector 17, 131 µg/m3 at Industrial area-I, 119 µg/m3 at Kaimbwala village, 102 µg/m3 at IMTECH Sector 39 and 97 µg/m3 at Punjab Engineering College against the permissible limits of 60 µg/m3. In city’s heart Sector 17, both annual and average of RSPM and SPM generally exceeded the permissible limits for residential areas throughout the year with the higher concentration during summer months when the weather is dusty and dirty.