Air pollution up 42% in 1 year

Avoid walking or cycling during peak hours at busy intersections

BY AISHWARYA MADINENI

Bengaluru’s air quality crisis, unlike that in the cities of the north, is a silent one; most online ambient stations which provide information to the public paint a fairly clean picture of the city’s air, though most of its citizens feel otherwise, including HSR Layout.

Dr Rahul Patil, Cardiologist at Jayadeva Hospital, says that there is a high incidence of heart attacks among auto and cab drivers in the city as they spend long hours in slow-moving traffic. Particulate pollution gets absorbed into the bloodstream within a few minutes and is responsible for blocking arteries. The residents should become more aware of the rising pollution crisis and not walk and cycle on or near busy roads as the benefits might not outweigh the risks”.

Co Media Lab and Climate Trends carried out a seven-day air quality monitoring exercise with the help of a low-cost monitor used to measure personalised exposure levels. From February 5-15, the monitor was installed in an auto equipped with a GPS tracker to locate various junctions and sensitive areas at which pollution spikes have taken place.

The seven arterial routes had a common starting point—Jayanagar/Banashankari touching Marathahalli, Silk Board, Electronic City, White Field, Uttarahalli, MG Road and Mekhri Circle.

Some of the highest instant values for Particulate Matter 2.5 and 10 were noted in the following locations:
ICON Central Labs, Hosur Road; Nallurhalli, Whitefield; MG Road; Near Angadi Silks, Marenahalli Road; Naidu Layout, Chikkalasandra; Arehalli Gate Bus Stop; Jal Bhavan Bangalore;
New Tharagupet; Kengeri Road, Aravalli, 3rd Main Rd; Sri Chaitanya School, Marathahalli

The safety limits for particulate pollutants are available for 24 hours and list annual averages only. Which means, you cannot directly say how unsafe real time values are in comparison to the regulatory norms. However, the averages observed over the four-hour auto rides carried out in two parts have consistently generated averages above 200 micrograms per cubic meter, which indicates that very poor air quality levels prevail for several hours every day owing to traffic congestion.

Annual averages published by the KSPCB are based on online and offline monitoring data and it clearly indicates that levels of Particulate Matter 2.5, the smallest and the most harmful of all, have exceeded the annual limits in the last one year by 3% to 45%. Garbage burning and vehicular pollution are the culprits, among others.

© Oorvani Foundation/Open Media Initiative. Also available online at citizenmatters.in