Bangalore is certainly not lagging behind in poor air quality.

With over 500 vehicles being added every day to the city's groaning roads, traffic jams are only part of the problem. Air pollution levels in the city have gone up in the last few years. All pollutants except sulphur dioxide are on the rise, according to data available with the State Pollution Control Board.

A sampling of the air quality at the six air quality monitoring stations in the city show alarming levels of Standard Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respirable Standard Particulate Matter (RSPM) at three of the sites. It also shows slightly high to almost double the standard figures of sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxides in the sensitive area around Victoria Hospital. This is the annual average for the period concluding this April.

The industrial area around Graphite India (Whitefield), the mixed urban area around Yeshwantpur and the sensitive Victoria hospital area, all these have high values of SPM and RSPM. The RSPM, which comprises particles smaller than 10 microns (and hence respirable) is particularly high at the Victoria Hospital area and Graphite India area. So also the measure of SPMs in these two places.

The standards have been set at the national level with the objective of reducing damaging effects of air pollution.
 These figures have been obtained from the manual air pollution monitoring stations of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. The board has six such stations and seven more are on the cards. Besides these, two automatic continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations have been set up, one at the railway station and one at the Board's office at Sanguruvanahalli.

CONVERSION TO lpg has helped
Bangalore, DHNS: In terms of what is the action plan, the Environment Pollution Control Authority review presented in the Assembly last month shows that some action has been taken. Among these, the conversion of autos from petrol to LPG has been quite a success, with 61,869 autos out of the 72,400 having been fitted with authorized LPG kits. The remaining will follow by this year end. New registrations of autos will be only for such vehicles. More emission testing centres are planned.

The KSPCB has implemented the plan to supply diesel with lower sulphur content (green diesel) for all vehicles on the ring road and this will be extended to other areas also. “This is one reason why the sulphur dioxide levels have come down," says Venkatesh. 

There is also a concerted move to check adulteration of petrol with kerosene. Construction of roads, increasing fleet of BMTC buses, a parking policy to streamline traffic, are some other suggestions being followed up.

Disorders
Bangalore, DHNS: The particulates are a mixture of solid and liquid droplets in the air. They originate from vehicle exhaust, industry, crop burning, wastes, etc. These can cause respiratory infections, while sulphur dioxide, which mostly comes from vehicle exhaust and oxides of nitrogen cause bronchial problems.

Carbon monoxide comes mostly from petrol vehicles and reduces the ability of blood to carry oxygen and also leads to heart disorders. A recent study showed that women who lived in regions with high carbon monoxide or fine-particle levels, pollution caused mainly by vehicle traffic were approximately 10 to 25 per cent more likely to have a preterm baby than women who lived in less polluted areas. Benzene, which also emanates from unleaded petrol and catalytic converters, is a known carcinogen and also affects the CNS.