AIR launched to reduce pollution

AIR (Ahmedabad's Initiative for Reduction in Pollution) was launched in the city.

Ahmedabad is among the worst air-polluted cities of the country. A 16-member committee, chaired by the district collector Anita Karwal, has been formed to take steps in order to reduce the pollution levels in the city. Government officials, educationists, industrialists and environmentalists are members of the committee.

The project is aimed at creating awareness among all sections of the society about the hazards of pollution, ensuring more healthy living conditions for the residents.

Rahul Mangaonkar is the convener of the initiative, Gaurang Prajapati secretary and Anjou Chazot treasurer.

Girish Patel, Hiten Vasant, Urmila Shah, Ajay Shah, Keshav Kumar, Vikas Sahai, Amol Sandil, Shailesh Patwari, Nilanjan Bhowmik, Achal Bakeri, Muthak kapadia and Rahul Sehgal are members of the committee.

Through a proactive collaboration between citizens and the government, AIR aims to tackle air pollution by creating partnerships with various stakeholders and organising programmes to create awareness and generate opinion.

AIR will also seek plugging of loopholes in the current legal framework to enable enforcing agencies to do more than what they can at present.

AIR members will hold several rounds of discussions with schools, unions of autorickshaws, transporters and others to achieve its goal, a statement said. Ahmedabad continues to be among the most polluted cities of the country.

Vehicular emissions and dust are the major causes of air pollution. Over three-fourths of the air pollution is caused by vehicular emission and the state spends over Rs 100 crore a year on treating diseases caused by air pollution.

A study, 'Sales tax on natural gas in Gujarat', prepared by Ravindra Dholakia of the Indian Institute of Management for the Gujarat Council of CII, says in Ahmedabad alone, the state would save at least Rs 63 crore by replacing petrol, diesel and coal with CNG and gas.

The report has been submitted to the state government by the CII.

This is based on the assumption that the government spends around 50 per cent of the total healthcare expenditure made in the state.

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) levels in Ahmedabad city have been extremely high.

The city has recorded SPM levels between 400 and 600, while the national ambient air quality standard requires SPM to be below 200 microgrammes per metre cube.

The share of automobiles in Ahmedabad's air pollution is about 74 per cent.

Dust is also a major air pollutant. It leads to silicosis, a disease caused by inhalation of dust.

Oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur "" mainly released into the air by polluting vehicles and also to some extent by industrial units "" are harmful to humans and the vegetation.

The Gujarat Pollution Control Board monitors the levels of SPM, along with the oxides of nitrogen, sulphur and carbon, on a daily basis. I has placed monitors at busy traffic junctions in the city.