Air quality suffers from Metro rail work dust

Chennai: Areas around the sites where Chennai metro rail work is going on are seeing deteriorating air quality, according to pollution control board officials. All the drilling and excavation at various areas along the under construction Koyambedu-Central line, including Anna Nagar and Kilpauk, are seeing a rise in Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM). Authorities have set up additional monitoring units at some of these points to monitor the levels.

“I admit in some areas and corridors of Chennai air pollution levels are very high because of the ongoing metro rail works. This is an area of concern but overall levels are in check. We have also given them instructions to keep pollution levels in check,” said an official from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). “Manual (monitoring) stations have been set up near traffic intersections where this kind of work is going on. So we will be able to keep a tab.”

The Chennai Ambient Air Quality Report monitored by TNPCB for 24 hours on two days per week states that this year in the month of July the PM10 levels (Particulate matter of 10 micron size) recorded in Kilpauk (along traffic corridors) peaked at 108 in the first week, at 147 in the second week and 122 in the third week.

Last year's data also shows an alarming rise in RSPM levels in areas of Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Theagaraya Nagar. These areas have been seeing some sort of construction work going on all the time with Kilpauk and Anna Nagar hosting the maximum of metro rail work.

With the permissible limit being 100, Anna Nagar levels read 108 while in T Nagar it is 106. It is Kilpauk which showed a startling reading of 131 (all values in ug/m3). From the month of March to August last year, in T Nagar, the RSPM /PM10 levels constantly remained above 100 with the maximum going upto 132.

However, officials added that during festivals such as Bhogi and Deepavali the air pollution levels also go up and measures are constantly being taken to bring them down.

Air pollution is slowly turning into a rising cause of health hazard in India with the number of cases related to acute respiratory infection (ARI) rising by 5 million since 2012. The National Health Profile report released by the government also states that there is a link between incidence of respiratory diseases and presence of pollution in air.

Countries like India are the worst affected when compared to the global average of deaths due to air pollution, as per a WHO report. Further, the 2013 Environmental Performance Index ranked India 155 out of 178 countries.