Expert suggests measure to reduce air toxicity over Delhi

Dr. B. Sengupta, an environmental scientist and former member secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board on Wednesday enumerated factors that cause pollution in the air and suggested measures to reduce the toxic elements in the air for enabling fresh and cleaner environment in Delhi/NCR.

He suggested that rather than phasing out diesel vehicles in Delhi/NCR, Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) could be fitted into older vehicles, including heavy duty commercial vehicles to reduce emissions.

But he said this is possible only if <50 ppm sulfur fuel is available.

Giving out measures to check the emissions by DG sets in Delhi/NCR at Amity University, Dr. Sengupta opined that power availability in Delhi/NCR has to be improved by providing grid supply, new commercial DG sets in Noida and Delhi should be based on CNG and existing DG sets should be retrofitted with requisite pollution control system to reduce Nitrogen Oxides and soot particles.

Dr. Sengupta remarked that most critical and harmful pollutant in the air is PM2.5 and the major contributors of PM2.5 in the environment are combustion sources like vehicles, coal, biomass, garbage combustion.

Expressing his concern, he said "The levels of Benzene and PM2.5 are very high in the air of Noida which is a matter of grave concern since an average adult inhales 12,000- 15,0000 litres of air everyday and PM2.5 easily enters into respiratory track and blood. Continuous and excessive inhaling of PM2.5 could cause dire problems such as premature deaths, lung cancer, heart attacks and development of chronic lung diseases and other problems"

Also present during the occasion were Dr. Anjali Shrivastava, Chief Scientist and Head, CSIR-NEERI Delhi Zonal Laboratory CSIR R & D Center, Naraina Industrial Area; Prof. J.K. Garg, Professor of Environment Management, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University; Dr. Chirashree Ghosh, Assistant Professor(Sr.), Dept. of Environmental Studies University of Delhi; Dr K D Gupta, Chairman Institute of Applied Sciences & Rural Development, Assocham National Council of Climate Change, Noida who delivered informative talks and enlightened the audience.