Ooty: Call to give impetus to bio-fuels and other alternatives to beat air pollution

Ooty: As World Environment Day this year is being observed on Wednesday with the theme “Beat Air Pollution,” the Greens here in the hills of the Nilgiris, the core centre of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve which is the first of its kind in the country, called for giving impetus to bio-fuel and battery operated vehicles to combat air pollution as there has been a constant increase in the volume of traffic in the Nilgiris due to tourist influx, which in turn plays havoc with air quality and air health.

M. Kumaravelu, field officer at the CPR Environmental Education Centre here, said that it is common knowledge that tourism grows every passing year in the Nilgiris. Around 30 lakh tourists visit these hills every year. This means that the number of vehicles ascending to the hills also increases with the increase in tourist influx. The biggest threat to the health of the air and its quality in the Nilgiris is from automobile exhaust which emits carbon monoxide and dioxide hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides and other particulate substances which are pollutants that degrade the quality of air when they accumulate in the atmosphere, he explained and divulged that these pollutants in the air will in course of time, affect the pulmonary health of humans as well as animals, leading to health complications.

“At this juncture, it will be prudent to think about finding alternatives such as bio-fuels and battery-operated vehicles to ply in the hills as also autogas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) and make these alternative fuels available in plenty in the hills to cater to the needs of automobiles. Schemes should be drawn in such a way to make it mandatory for all tourist vehicles entering the hills to use bio-fuels and alternatives such as autogas, as that will minimize emission of pollutants. The administration should check the deteriorating air quality in the hills,” he added.