#dustfreehyderabad

COURTESY THE TIMES OF INDIA

HYDERABAD: From being just another city, Hyderabad may have gone on to become a leading global IT hub over the past one decade; but its air quality remains unchanged. Even today, the city is categorised as 'critically polluted'.

Proof: A recent report compiled by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that's pegged the daily Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) count in the city at an alarmingly high 11.9 tonnes for 650 square km. The national permissible limit - 60 milligrams per cubic metre - is but a fraction of the recorded RSPM, say experts.

RSPM is broadly defined as the impurities in air such as dust, ash or soot, which when inhaled can lead to acute respiratory complications.

Turns out, a similar study conducted by the Board in 2003 threw up equally startling numbers. So much so that the CPCB listed Hyderabad among the nine most polluted cities in India. The others were: Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Solapur, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The 2003 exercise was initiated following an order from the Supreme Court that had received a writ petition from a citizen, M C Mehta, challenging the Union of India's inability to curb the rising RSPM levels across cities. "As per the apex court order, we launched a phase-wise study in these nine cities," said Mita Sharma, a senior scientist with the CPCB, attributing the delay in the compilation of data to various 'technical' problems.

Now in 2016, the first phase of the study that covers six of the nine cities - Solapur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Patna and Hyderabad - is finally complete. Result: the joint capital is a clear leader in RSPM count. In fact, recordings gathered from the five other 'competitors' pale in comparison to Hyderabad's astounding 11.9 tonnes. Their RSPM numbers are limited to the 1-7 tonnes per day range. (See Box)

City-based environmentalists aren't in the least surprised. While admitting to a steep drop in quality of air in Hyderabad over the years, they attribute this deterioration to the rampant yet haphazard growth of the city. "Hyderabad is ridden with construction works that result in the air being thick with fine particles of dust, sand and other debris. Frequent blasting of rocks to pave the way for concrete structures only adds to the problem," said S Jeevanand Reddy, convener, Forum for a Sustainable Environment.

The phenomenal increase in vehicular traffic - coupled with reducing road width - is also a major contributor to the RSPM count, explain environmentalists. Rough estimates suggest a whopping 700 odd vehicles are added to Hyderabad's roads every day, leading to severe congestion.

Then there is the load of old-rickety vehicles that authorities have failed to take off the streets. "Roughly, 67% of the cars that ply on the roads were purchased between the 2005 and 2010. This means that their fuel efficiency and emissions are questionable," Reddy said.

Even the CPCB report makes a categorical mention of Hyderabad's roads and its correlation with the rise in RSPM levels. "The city has radial and orbital form of road network development. The recent growth trend is more in the western and southern directions. The road network of Hyderabad is very dense and congested due to narrow roads, heavy encroachments, and high pedestrian and slow moving vehicle concentration," the report points out.

An expert on urban transportation, C Ramchandraiah, couldn't agree more. Pointing out how the civic infrastructure of the city often does not permit vehicles to travel at a speed beyond 20 km per hour, he said: "When the main roads are as narrow as bylanes, vehicular movement is bound to move at slow pace