Karnataka - Bangalore

Air quality around hospitals, schools deteriorating

Special Correspondent

SPM levels are at least 25 per cent more than standard values

Bangalore: A city with over 2.3 million vehicles cannot really escape from air pollution caused by exhaust emissions.

What has alarmed environmentalists and traffic planners is that the ambient air quality has steadily deteriorated around sensitive areas such as hospitals, schools and colleges. Data collected by the mobile labs of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board show that pollution levels in such areas are well above standard values.

In his study, Urban Vehicular Pollution Control-Focus Bangalore, environmental engineer Ameer Ahmed lists out some of the most polluted spots in the city where suspended particulate matter (SPM) is high.

These include areas around Victoria and Bowring and Lady Curzon hospitals, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology and roads close to Bishop Cotton Girls' School. Tumkur Road, Mysore Road and K.R. Market also recorded high SPM levels.

"The observed SPM levels are at least 20 to 25 per cent more than standard values, in these sensitive areas," says Dr Ahmed.

"The problem of curbing air pollution is not one of management but a technical problem," says Dr Ahmed.

It is a question of reducing pollutants emitted from different types of vehicle engines and of trapping the pollutants. Using cleaner grades of conventional fuel such as petrol and diesel, burning them efficiently and neutralising the pollutants before they are released are all part of the Bharat II emission norms already followed by automobile manufacturers.

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