BREATHE AT YOUR OWN RISK

The city has reported five deaths in 19 incidents involving illegal dumping of toxic waste in open drains in the past two years. But GPCB has no mechanism in place to protect lives or environment

Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), which is tasked with protecting the environment, has reduced itself to being a sitting duck.Devoid of mechanism in place to monitor illegal dumping of hazardous chemical waste in the city's industrial areas, the pollution control body depends on citizens and local bodies for assistance. At least five people have lost lives and several affected in as many as 19 incidents involving illegal dumping of toxic waste over the past two years.

Up in smoke

Severalof the 60 CCTV cameras installed in city’s industrialunits to monitorpollution lie defunct; GPCB issues notices, takes no action
Thick smoke rises menacingly from the chimney of an industrial unit in the city. It spreads to nearby areas, permeating the respiratory tracts of unwary Amdavadis and increasing their mortality by causing respiratory infections and diseases, lung cancer, and other cardiovascular diseases. This could easily have been prevented had Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) properly implemented its plan to install CCTV cameras to keep a watch over industrial units and monitor emissions.

AIR-POCALYPSE

If commuting on Ashram Road makes you nauseous, don’t be shocked. You are breathing in the most polluted air in the city; industrial areas such as Narol and Odhav are less polluted

It might not shock you if told that Delhi is the most polluted city in the world (World Health Organisation report last year). But what if you get to know that the air you are breathing in aapnu Amdavad is more poisonous? Ahmedabad records the highest dangerous concentration of air pollutants in the country on certain days every month, if the data procured from the state’s first air quality index station in Maninagar is anything to go by.

But if you think that air pollution is highest in industrial areas, you are mistaken. The air in commercial and residential areas is most poisonous with highest concentration of unhealthy pollutants. Ashram Road and Sabarmati are the most polluted in the city, while air pollution is within limit in Narol and Odhav, data from Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) suggests (see box for pollution levels in different areas).