Hyderabad's deadly PM10 pollutant particles level still high
A main reason behind increase in PM10 levels is steep hike in number of vehicles in the city.
Hyderabad: A decade of measures to reduce pollution by building flyovers to ease traffic congestion, introducing MMTS services to take vehicles off the road and ensuring supply of clean fuel have failed to have much of an impact in particulate matter pollution in the city.
A study published recently by scientists from the Telangana state and the AP Pollution Control Board and a faculty of environmental sciences department in Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, has reported that the level of PM10 has increased from 2006 to 2015.
PM10 are pollutant particles which measure 10 micrometres or less that can easily enter the lungs or blood stream and can cause serious illnesses.
The study collected data from the PCB’s 19 manually-operated air quality monitoring monitoring stations and five continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations. A main reason behind increase in PM10 levels is steep hike in number of vehicles in the city.
As per a study published this year May by researchers from JNTU, number of vehicles registered with RTOs in Hyderabad increased from 2,45,119 in 2005 to 7,11,984 in 2015 of which 81 per cent were two wheelers which release 25-45 per cent of the fuel partially burnt. The share of cars increased from eight to 12 per cent.
PM10 pollution was mainly caused by vehicles (49 per cent) followed by road dust (33 per cent), secondary pollutants from chemical reactions (8 per cent), burning of biomass (4 per cent) and six per cent from other sources.
All stations crossed the benchmark PM10 value of 50 microgram/metre cube (µg/m3). The study was conducted by Mr N. Raveendhar of the TSPCB, Mr K. Venkateswara Rao of the APPCB and Mr A.V.V.S. Swamy of ANU.
Pollution fell in some areas
Five of the 19 locations, Abids, Uppal, Madhapur, MGBS and Rajen-dranagar showed slight decrease in PM10 levels. Telangana state PCB officials said the main reason behind the slight decrease in Abids was the implementation of one-day traffic.
In Uppal, pharma and industrial units shut down over the years.
In Madhapur the monitoring station was moved away from the main road. There was no specific reason for the fall in PM10 levels at MGBS; it was stated that new buses with better emission control could be a factor.