Conduct air quality study in Ghaziabad: Residents ask IIT-Delhi

A residents' association in Ghaziabad has asked IIT-Delhi to conduct a detailed study of air polluting sources in this Delhi suburb, in view of the deteriorating air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR).

In a letter to IIT-Delhi, Col. Tejendra Pal Singh Tyagi (retd), president of the Apartment Owners Association Federation, said PM 1 (particulate matter of size less than 1 micro metre) has been found in the NCR.

A letter to the IIT from the member secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board was written on May 11 to conduct a study, and the residents' association wrote to the institute to reiterate the UPPCB request.

Tyagi said the World Health Organisation (WHO) in a study in 2010 said Ghaziabad was among the top five places in India where the air was heavily polluted.

He said particulate matter was carcinogenic, and it gets deposited in the lower portion of the lung, thereby reducing lung capacity which was an irreversible problem.

He said the association had asked IIT-Delhi in July to conduct a study, but five months have passed, and there has been no response.

"We have been given to understand that diesel emissions, burning of biomass, polluting air discharge from factories, dust from the construction industry etc. contribute to PM 2.5 and PM 1. Therefore, you are requested to carry out a study and give us an idea of the approximate percentage contribution of these sources towards the formation of PM 2.5 and PM 1," he said quoting from the letter.

He said there were over 300 polluting industries and about 100 brick kilns in Ghaziabad, and none of them conformed to the Pollution Control Board standards.

"Effluent treatment plants are said to be installed in all industries but we have our doubts if they are in operation round-the-clock," he said.

"We have approached the central and state governments regarding closure or control of factories, but nothing concrete has come out of it," Tyagi said.

He again requested IIT-Delhi to conduct a detailed study and suggest remedial measures.