May 28 2008
Kolkata is now India’s pollution capital: Survey!
Kolkata has left behind Delhi city accounting the increased level of air pollution and the increasing number of respiratory disorders in the people of the city. A six-year survey conducted by the Chittaranjan National cancer institute (CNCI) revealed that more than 18 case per one lakh people in Kolkata are affected by lung cancer every year as compared to 13 persons per one lakh in Delhi.
According to environmental scientist and adviser of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Twisha Lahiri, the numbers of heart attack cases were also showing a steep increase in the Eastern metropolis.
CNCI scientists maintain that more than seven in 10 people in Kolkata, including children as well as elderly people, suffer from various kinds of respiratory disorders.
Lahiri said roadside hawkers, shop owners, traffic policemen, auto-rickshaw drivers, rickshaw-pullers and others who spend long hours on the road were the most vulnerable victims of these disorders.
Lahiri blamed the increasing vehicular population and aging fleet of buses behind the increase in pollution. The pollution gives rise to breathing difficulties like asthma in children while elderly people are victims of lung cancer.
Nearly 80 per cent of the buses and trucks and nearly half of the taxis and auto-rickshaws need to be discarded from the roads to clean the city’s air, environmentalists felt.
“What we need is immediate introduction of CNG or LPG-driven buses, strict monitoring of auto-rickshaws which run on adulterated fuel and withdrawal of old buses belching toxic fumes,” she said.
Environmentalist Subhas Dutta had filed a PIL in the Calcutta High Court, alleging that the Bengal government was idle about controlling air pollution level.
“After a series of petitions and court rulings, very little was done to curb the killer pollution. That is inadequate and the fight will continue,” Dutta said.
