Howrah’s air quality was “very poor” for nearly half of January, the state pollution control board’s air quality report has shown.
Howrah had 13 days of “very poor” air in January. There were 14 days of “poor” air and four days of “moderate” air.
Ghusuri suffered the most of all Howrah pockets with the monitoring station there recording 13 “very poor” days and an equal number of “poor” days.
According to the National Air Quality Index, prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), very poor air can cause “respiratory illness on prolonged exposure”.
Poor air can result in breathing discomfort in most people on prolonged
exposure.
A resident of Howrah’s Shibpur said he could sense a burning smell in the ambient air on almost all days this winter.
“There is a thick haze every morning and dust all around,” he said.
Air quality management experts and scientists ascribed the foul air in Howrah to industrial activities, truck traffic and transport terminals.
“There is a lot of industrial activity in Howrah. Add to that the large number of trucks plying through Kona Expressway,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, the executive director of the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
“There are well laid out guidelines and rules on controlling emissions from industrial units. These have to be enforced.”
Kalyan Rudra, the chairperson of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, admitted that managing Howrah’s air quality was a challenge.
“Howrah is a challenge. There are two important transport terminals there — Shalimar station and Howrah station. It is a very congested city with little green cover and open space. There is also a huge truck traffic. All these factors have made air quality management in Howrah challenging,” said Rudra.
“We have prepared a graded response action plan (GRAP), which will bring in restrictions with the drop in air quality.”
When asked if Howrah’s air quality worsened the air quality of Calcutta — the
two cities are separated by the river Hooghly — Rudra said it was still too early to comment.
“We have started research to understand how transboundary pollution affects Calcutta. It is still too early to say whether Howrah is impacting Calcutta,” Rudra
said.
Doctors said foul air weakens the natural defence of humans, making them vulnerable to infections.
For people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, the foul air can exacerbate symptoms and even lead to hospitalisation, said a doctor.
Poor air quality can also lead to a resurgence of symptoms in people with allergic rhinitis, who were otherwise without any symptoms for several months.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that “the combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths annually”.
The six grades of air quality are good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor and severe.
Metro reported on Monday that Calcutta did not have a single day in January when the air quality was “good” or “satisfactory”. Howrah’s air quality report for January is far worse.
The breakdown of the air quality in Howrah further revealed that Ghusuri had 13 “very poor” days and 13 “poor” days, while Padmapukur had one “severe” day, 16 “poor” days, 12 “very poor” days and one “moderate” day.
“Severe” air quality “affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing diseases,” says the National Air Quality Index.