The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Every breath you take is deadly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Every breath you take is deadly

T.Lalith Singh

Air pollution is maximum on working days while it is within limits on Sundays

HYDERABAD: When is the right day to drive around the city, explore the changing skyline and yet manage to escape the clutches of rising pollution? Just avoid working days and venture out on a holiday, preferably a Sunday.

The data on pollution collected by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board from different centres in the city shows the pollution parameters leaping much beyond the standards on working days, a normal traffic day, while it dips down to stay within limits on Sundays.

Recorded levels

Last week, the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) was recorded as 123 micrograms per cubic metre at Paradise while it went down to 98 micrograms per cubic metre on Sunday. The accepted limit is 100 micrograms per cubic metre. Similarly, the RSPM at Charminar was 117 and on a Sunday, it was 70.

Similar is the trend on data related to Total Suspended Particulate Matter (TSPM) at different points. Against an accepted limit of 200 micrograms per cubic metre, the TSPM was 406 at Paradise, 366 at Punjagutta and 319 at Abids on Friday. Come Sunday, it was 179 micrograms per cubic metre at Paradise, 184 at Punjagutta and 197 at Abids. The daily monitoring of pollution at major centres shows that both RSPM and TSPM, which went down on Sunday, suddenly climbed up on Monday and continued in the same line till the weekend - a clear indication of the traffic that go missing on the holiday and start choking the city streets on working days.

PCB officials point at the multi-fold increase in the number of vehicles on roads in the last few years as a major contributing factor in pollution levels. According to statistics available, an average of 1,835 four wheelers were registered till last year. At the same time, nearly 9,000 two-wheelers and 800 goods vehicles on an average were added each year.

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Andhra Pradesh