[sustran] Bengalureans gasp as city turns into gas chamber

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140918/nation-current-affairs/article/bengalureans-gasp-city-turns-gas-chamber



Bengalureans gasp as city turns into gas chamber DC | Sangeetha Bora |
September
18, 2014, 04.09 am IST


[image: The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) is four times
higher than the national permissible limit in some parts of the city.]
The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) is four times higher
than the national permissible limit in some parts of the city.

*Bengaluru: *Dark smoke belching out of vehicles and motorists  honking
incessantly are all a part and parcel of the madness on roads in the city.
But in the process it is paying a heavy price. In the last few months it
has seen a significant rise in air pollution placing the health of
Bengalureans at risk.

Disturbingly, the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) is four
times higher than the national permissible limit in some parts of the city.
While the area around Victoria Hospital has a 164 microgram per cubic
meters RSPM level, the immediate surroundings of NIMHANS have recorded a
79  microgram per cubic meters RSPM level. The reading for the Graphite
India neighbourhood is 159  and the  KHB Industrial Area, Yelahanka, 104.
Silkboard Junction that sees huge vehicular movement has a 256 microgram
per cubic meter RSPM level and AMCO Batteries, Mysore Road, a staggering
264.

Pulled by the High Court for doing very little to curb air and noise
pollution, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board came out with a
series of directions on August 25 to deal with the problem. Exercising its
powers under the Karnataka Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules,
1983, it directed the state transport department to restrict registration
of new vehicles in the city till the noise pollution subsided and air
quality standards were met. It also asked that autorickshaws be banned from
the Central Business District in a phased manner. But the transport
department stuck to its guns saying it was impossible to stop registration
of new vehicles on the grounds of  air pollution.

 Clearly, angered by the response, KSPCB chairman, Vaman Acharya says he
has come out with 32 directions and they will have to be implemented or
alternatives found.
“My directives are final and the transport department has to execute them.
We asked the government to plant one crore saplings in two months, but it
could not even do that. If my directives are not carried out, we will have
to approach the court again,” he warns. Among the many suggestions of the
KSPCB are a ban on heavy motor vehicles entering Outer Ring Road and
beyond, a ban on two-stroke vehicles, use of CNG in BMTC and KSRTC buses, a
ban on HTC that are more than 15 years old in BBMP limits, auditing of all
emission checking centers, a Rs 1000 fine for violation of emission norms
and suspension of registration certificates for repeated emission
violations.

In line with the comprehensive development plan which had years ago called
for a clear demarcation of commercial and residential areas, the board too
has asked the government not to mix zones in the city. Environmentalist,
Suresh Heblikar who was a member of the panel that drew up the
comprehensive development plan around five years ago  recalls  it  had
suggested that commercial, essential and residential areas should remain
separate. “For instance, we have a shopping complex in Jayanagar, so let
all the shops, hotels and bars come up in and around it. Let people go to
one place for shopping and all vehicles go to one area rather than pollute
the entire city. But today we have all kinds of commercial establishments
cropping up in residential areas. We are in talks with the transport
department and will shortly launch a campaign against air and noise
pollution. We are looking for  car-free days twice a week, sensitising auto
drivers and more planting of trees.”

*‘20 to 30 lakh saplings must to check rising pollution’*

The loss of green cover – which fell  from 72  per cent  to 21 per cent
over the  last decade -  is also making a huge contribution to rising
pollution levels in the city. With Bengaluru now left with just 14, 78,418
trees, the  Karnataka State Pollution Control Board ( KSPCB) has directed
the BBMP to come up with an extensive afforestation plan.

While the civic agency has planted six lakhs saplings over the  last four
years, KSPCB chief, Vaman Acharya says it should plant at least 20 to 30
lakh saplings a year.  He believes there should be at least one tree per
person in the city, and regrets it has only  0.1 tree per person today.

The problem continues to grow as roughly 5,000 trees in the city are
removed every year from private properties and for infrastructure
projects.  This year alone over 2000 trees have already been felled.  Chief
conservator of forests, Brijesh, however,  says the BBMP is committed to
planting more seedlings and this year 1.2 lakh have already been planted.

*CNG buses yet to become a reality*

The pollution control board is keen on BMTC buses running on CNG,  a
cleaner fuel, in the interest of curbing air polluiton.

A few months ago the BMTC  wrote to the Union ministry of urban development
(MOUD) to sanction 400 CNG buses under JNNURM and claims to have received a
positive response. Says Mr Kumar  Pushkar, Director (IT),  BMTC, “We have
received  positive feedback from the ministry.  The MD of BMTC had a long
meeting with it and it went fine. However, the number of buses may not be
400, but less.” As things stand today,  50 percent of the cost of
procurement will be borne by the BMTC, 35 per cent  by the Union government
and 15 per cent by the state.

The transport corporation,which has done a survey and identified the Peenya
and Yelahanka depots for the project,  will  go ahead with buying the CNG
buses once the proposal is approved by the MOUD.

C