Ghaziabad: Kaushambi highly polluted, says govt survey

The second round of monitoring Kaushambi’s air pollution, carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board on the directions of the National Green Tribunal between October 6 and 9, has revealed that the particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM10 were much higher than the standard limits

The second round of monitoring Kaushambi’s air pollution, carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board on the directions of the National Green Tribunal between October 6 and 9, has revealed that the particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM10 were much higher than the standard limits. The special monitoring was carried out at three locations in the township.

Commuters pass through a dusty road in Ghaziabad on Saturday. (Sakib Ali/HT)

According to data obtained during the second round of special monitoring, the PM10 levels at the three locations-- Kaushambi police post, near Meenakshi Hospital and Panchmani Apaartments--ranged between 161.59 micrograms per cubic metre (mpcm) and 372.58 mpcm. The standard limit for PM10 is 100 mpcm.

Likewise, the PM2.5 levels at the three locations also ranged between 63.10 mpcm and 92.51 mpcm, well above the standard limit of 60 mpcm.

“Both PM10 and PM2.5 levels were found to be high at all the three locations. We compared our figures with the pollution levels prevailing on the same days at Anand Vihar monitoring station in Delhi, which is nearer to Kaushambi, and found the PM10 and PM2.5 levels of the township were lower.We will now submit the data of both rounds of the special monitoring to the National Green Tribunal,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UPPCB.

“The present issue with Kaushambi is that due to farmers’ protest at UP Gate, a majority of vehicles are getting diverted through the Kaushambi-Anand Vihar border. So, the PM 2.5 and PM10 will remain high due to higher vehicular movement. The measures under the environmental management plan and the traffic management plan are being implemented to keep the pollution levels under control,” he added.

The UPPCB also monitored the noise pollution levels at the three locations and found that the noise levels were high during the day as well as night

Kaushambi Apartments’ Resident Welfare Association (Karwa), the umbrella body of Kaushambi high-rises, had moved court in 2015 and filed several petitions, in which they contended that the township was high on pollution levels as the ISBTs of Anand Vihar and Kaushambi were right opposite to the township and the Sahibabad Site IV Industrial Area and Ghazipur landfill site are also in the vicinity.

“It has almost taken us six years of legal battle to get the agencies to take measures against the pollution sources. After we moved the Supreme Court last year, the agencies started implementing the traffic management plan and the environmental management plan for our township,” said V K Mittal, president of Karwa.

“We have already stated our position that Kaushambi suffers high pollution levels. The work done by agencies are underway. There has to be both short-term and long-term monitoring to know if the measures have been able to control pollution or not,” he added.

The first round of monitoring the pollution levels was carried between September 17 and September 21.

During the first special monitoring, the township was found high on noise pollution and PM10 levels. However, due to rainy days, the correct picture of pollution levels could not be ascertained and a second special monitoring was carried out.

UPPCB officials said they will submit the data of the two rounds of monitoring before the tribunal and will conduct more studies if directed by the tribunal.