UPPCB, traffic dept to identify pollution hotspots in UP cities

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), along with the traffic department, is set to identify pollution hotspots in seven major cities of Uttar Pradesh with an aim to improve air quality in these cities.

The move has come in the backdrop of a recent report of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that found air pollution in major UP cities to be severe.

According to experts, the construction work and the vehicular emissions are the major sources of air pollution in big cities. The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board will aim to identify spots where the air pollution levels are high in a city so that effective measures can be taken to prevent it.

The survey will be held in Ghaziabad, Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagaraj, Varanasi and Agra.

Barring, Varanasi and Prayagaraj, remaining cities usually record, poor, very poor, or severe, Air Quality Index as per CPCB data.

“Our teams will work with local traffic department to identify crossings or certain sections of road where the air pollution levels are recorded higher than other places. If needed, we will divide the city into grids and work to identify the grids with higher air pollution. The focus will be on identifying areas with higher air pollution and permanent source of pollution which causes it,” said VK Singh, senior environmental engineer, UPPCB.

“Once the two factors are identified we will work to eliminate source of the pollution in coordination with concerned departments,” Singh said.

As per Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board officials, the survey will begin by late March and will take at least a month to complete. The board has also proposed a similar survey during winters to get more reliable data.

“Pollution sources can change over a period of time. For example, in summers, emissions from generators cause more pollution than in winter. The survey will look into such aspects,” said Singh