Kolkata Experiences Zero “Good” Air Days Since January 1

While air pollution in Kolkata is not a recent phenomenon, PM 2.5 and 10 levels in the city surpassing Delhi’s infamous standards made national headlines in the last couple of months. In an effort to understand the issue better, a media and experts discussion was organised today in the city by environmental groups, Climate Trends and Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE).

The groups installed low-cost monitoring devices across 4 polluted junctions in the city -- at Don Bosco Park Circus, Dunlop Crossing, Narayana Hospital and Silver Spring apartment near EM Bypass -- to analyse the exposure levels of particulate matter in the city. Data from January 1st till February 24th recorded zero ‘good’ air quality days in Kolkata, and one day of ‘satisfactory’ air across all 4 monitors. While Dunlop Crossing ranged from “very poor” to “severe” on the Air Quality Index, the area around Don Bosco school and EM Bypass ranged between “poor” and “severe”, and levels around Narayana hospital remained around “very poor” on an average.

Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends said that only 57 cities currently have real-time monitoring stations in the country, rest are manual that don’t make data easily accessible for public consumption. While low-cost monitors are not a replacement for the regulatory grade CPCB and state PCB monitors, these devices have helped democratise the data to start a public debate on the rising threat of air pollution in many cities in India, and in Kolkata as well.

Dr Sarath Guttikunda from Urban Emissions said that co-relation is not causation. People see transport and blame it for pollution, but that’s not all. Air pollution is due to many causes we don’t see - power plants and brick kilns outside the city limits. Garbage burning is banned on paper but happens all the time. So bridging this knowledge gap is crucial, he said.

On the increasing need for air quality monitoring in Kolkata, Dr Kalyan Rudra, Chairman, West Bengal Pollution Control Board, who opened the discussion said that he is not interested in manual data. It is measured twice a week and has gaps. As advised by NGT and CPCB, shifting to automatic real-time monitoring is the future. WBPCB has identified locations for adding 5 more automatic monitoring stations across Kolkata by March.

Addressing the wide source inventory experienced by Kolkata, ranging from vehicular emissions to construction dust, road dust resuspension, roadside eateries, hot mix plants, open waste burning, Dr Rudra added that they are providing the Kolkata Municipal Corporation with 10 water sprinkling vehicles and another 10 for Howrah. Kolkata’s higher level of humidity makes it more feasible for the city in comparison to Delhi.

Kolkata is one of the 102 non-attainment cities listed under the National Clean Air Programme. NCAP does not specify any fossil fuel consumption cap or reduction targets for cities which have strong evidence-based through source apportionment studies, for example in Delhi. According to the Chairman of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, Ujjwal Kumar Bhattacharya said that in West Bengal 90 percent of projects for EIA clearance are construction projects. SEIAA has an entire list of stipulations with a focus on air pollution, right from scaffolding to parking and the quality of roads around the project. But the crucial missing aspect is monitoring of these projects, which is managed by PCB which is strapped for staff and infrastructure.

While pollution levels escalate in the city, it is the inhabitants who pay the price. Dr Raja Dhar, Director Pulmonology at Fortis Hospital shared that he had a recent patient, a 28-year-old boy, married two years ago with a 4-month-old son, diagnosed with lung cancer and won’t survive more than a year. That’s the image you need to remember when you think of air pollution. Innocent people with bright future ahead suffering from this disease due to no fault of theirs.