City's air, noise pollution levels dropped during bandh: KSPCB

The one good thing the Karnataka bandh on September 26 did to Bengaluru was reduce its air and noise pollution.

The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) levels dropped by 51.8 per cent at the Bengaluru City railway station. These were 35.8 ug/M3 on September 26, as against 74.3 ug/M3 a day before, the standard being 100 ug/M3, according to an assessment report by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

RSPM levels at SG Halli, a residential area, went down by 31 per cent. They were 38 ug/M3 on the bandh day, as against 55 ug/M3 the previous day. At Saneguruvanahalli Nisarga Bhavan, another residential area, air pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, RSPM and carbon monoxide decreased by 33.3 per cent, 35.2 per cent, 31 per cent and 20 per cent respectively last Saturday, compared with normal days.

The overall RSPM levels decreased by 41.4 per cent and gaseous pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide decreased by 16.0 per cent that day, compared with normal days.

Noise pollution too was less. On September 26, noise levels decreased during the day time (6 am to 10 pm). In Whitefield Industrial Area, they went down by 3.6 per cent. They were 63.5 decibels on September 26, compared with 65.9 decibels the day before. In Peenya Industrial Area, there was a 3.2-per cent drop. Noise pollution levels dropped by 0.2 per cent in Marathahalli, four per cent on Church Street, 2.7 per cent at the Yeshwantpur police station, 5.5 per cent in BTM Layout, 3.3 per cent at Nisarga Bhavan in SG Halli, 3.7 per cent near Teri office in Domlur, 6 per cent near Nimhans and 3.3 per cent at RVCE on Mysuru Road.

On September 26, noise levels decreased in the night too, from 0.2 per cent to 2.8 per cent at four places — Whitefield, Marathahalli, Yeshwantpur and BTM Layout. But there was an increase of 1.1-6.5 per cent at Peenya Industrial Area, Church Street, SG Halli, Domlur, Nimhans and Mysuru Road.

On September 20, when HSR Layout observed a ‘No Vehicle Day’ (Open Street), air quality improved significantly. RSPM levels decreased by 21 per cent.

They were 71 ug/M3 that day, compared with 90 ug/M3 on September 19.
Noise levels dropped by 11.5 per cent during the day and 13.4 per cent at night.