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City faces air pollution threat
The Pollution Control Board (PCB) wrote a letter to Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) and Road Transport Authority (RTA)) cautioning them about increasing dust levels in the city.
Vijayawada: The Pollution Control Board (PCB) wrote a letter to Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) and Road Transport Authority (RTA)) cautioning them about increasing dust levels in the city.
The study of Pollution Control Board reveals the situation arose from the development of Amaravati capital city. Especially, when the city surroundings were selected for the construction new capital city Amaravati, the visitors and vehicles number has been increasing steeply. As a result, the city weather is now getting polluted from increasing number of vehicles travelling on the city roads.
According to officials, the Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) is above the normal levels in the city air. As per the norms of PCB, the SPM level should not cross 100 micron grams per cubic metre. But presently the SPM is 115 mg an average in the city limits.
The SPM levels have crossed normal parameters following development after bifurcation, including shifting of employees from Hyderabad to Vijayawada city. After the shifting of administrative setup to Vijayawada city, the vehicle movement has registered 10 per cent rise. As many as 7.10 lakh vehicles are moving on city roads daily, as per the study by Krishna District Transport Department.
The officials of various departments, MLAs, ministers and their followers joined in the list of regular visitors of the city. The situation forces them to visit the city when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and total administrative setup have been working from Secretariat at Velagapudi. Besides, construction activity has also registered impressive growth rate.
Several new buildings, including commercial and residential buildings, are coming up at several areas in the city. The negligence of the builders like using road margins for storing construction material is also cause for the rise in dust levels.
Krishna District Pollution Control Board executive engineer E Satyanarayana said that they have made recommendations to officials of local body and transport department. Speaking to The Hans India, he said that roads should be cleaned by removing garbage regularly. Watering is also required sometimes based on the conditions, he said.
The builders should follow the guidelines of the local body at the time of construction. On the other hand, the pollution checking should be conducted by the transport department, he said and added that possible diversion is also solution for reducing air pollution. He reiterated that fortunately gases in air are normal in the city.
By Patibandla Srinivas
