Chandni Chowk rated most polluted colony

The increasing congestion and heavy vehicular movement in the Walled City has got it the dubious distinction of ‘most polluted residential area’ for NO2 compared to 326 other Indian locations, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Sep 10, 2008, 23:41:48 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Chandni Chowk is India’s most polluted residential area.

Despite phasing out six-seater tuk-tuks, reduction of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in the city and measures to cut congestion, new pollution watchdog data on India’s ambient air quality shows Chandni Chowk as the most polluted residential area in 2007.

Chandni Chowk

Congestion
Vehicle movement have taken NO2 levels to 82 micro grams/ cubic metre. The national standard is 60
Cycle rickshaws
They were
banned for a short period last year are back. They increase SPM through dust.
Air quality
Chandni Chowk has partly reached the top slot because pollution in other areas has reduced considerably.

The increasing congestion and heavy vehicular movement in the Walled City has got it the dubious distinction of ‘most polluted residential area’ for NO2 and suspended particulate matter (SPM) pollutants, compared to 326 other Indian locations.

Adding to the pollution are diesel vehicles plying in the area. Cycle rickshaws banned for a short period last year are back on the area’s congested kuchas. Although rickshaws don’t emit fumes, they increase SPM levels through the dust they generate.

The area which inspired Chandni Chowk to China featuring Akshay Kumar and the Abhishek Bachchan-starrer Delhi 6, has displaced the ITO traffic island as Delhi’s most polluted.

“Air quality in Chandni Chowk has marginally deteriorated but it has reached top slot because pollution in other areas had witnessed a downward trend at the same time,” said a Central Pollution Control Board official.

Average NO2 levels at Chandni Chowk’s Town Hall monitoring station, were 82 micro grams per cubic metre against the national standard of 60.

In SPM, the average level of 476-micro gram per cubic metre at Town Hall was four times the national standard.

In 71 percent locations, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, the average SPM level was higher than the national standards of 140 ugm3.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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