Ashish Deshmukh
Pune: Pollution has reached its peak in the city, but it does not seem to have any impact on the municipal corporation. Every year the administration publishes an environmental report. However, it shows that air pollution statistics are under control. The municipality has not put up even a simple board recording air pollution due to Sanstha travel. However, there is a lack of promises on how to reduce pollution in the report. Therefore, angry citizens described the environmental report as “cropped.”
Pune has the highest air pollution after delhi. This year, Pune witnessed the highest number of fireworks after Delhi this Diwali. Therefore, air pollution in the city once again became a topic of discussion. The State Pollution Board is also measuring air pollution in the city in collaboration with the Ministry of Earth Sciences’ Zero Organization. However, these daily changes are not recorded at the municipal level. Only their annual environmental report is published. Shows the amount of fine and ultrafine dust particles within limits. Therefore, citizens strongly objected to this report and described it as a “cropped” report.
Why did the municipality remove that lung?
On behalf of Asar, a year ago, an image of ‘Digital Pupfus’, which measures air pollution in the city, was installed on Jungli Maharaj Street. These lungs turned black within fifteen days. Citizens know how good the air is with digital lungs. However, it was deleted by the municipal corporation within a few days.
The Central government has granted a minimum amount of Rs 100 crore to the Pune Municipal Corporation for environmental improvement. While this is the case, tarps are not placed on trash carts. The municipality is not making any efforts to reduce the amount of dust particles. Pune has never been this bad. The municipality must take action now. Citizens should be taken along for this purpose. We are ready to support them.
–doctor. Umesh Kahalekar, a senior citizen of Wagholi
In fact, the municipality must provide information about pollution to citizens on a daily basis. Digital air pollution dashboards should be installed in the city. But the authorities are not ready to bear this responsibility, for fear that all the problems will fall on them. The environmental report also appears flawed. Last year’s report was slightly modified. This is called a “cut and paste report” in today‘s parlance.
-Santosh Patel, senior citizen of Karvi Road
Pollution levels are higher in winter. It is true that the amount of dust has increased due to the ongoing metro work in the city. We have therefore instructed Mahametro management to take action against him. It is recommended to install water sprinklers in places where a large amount of dust is generated. There are also 450 electric buses in the city, and we are working on increasing the CNG-powered buses. We work on our part. But people set off a lot of fireworks despite the call to set off fewer fireworks. So now we need citizens’ cooperation.
– Mangesh Dighe, Environment Officer, Pune Municipality
The reason behind the significant increase in pollution in Pune is the wrong policies and mistakes in the actions of the municipal administration. Ruthless felling of trees, encroachment on hills and rivers, complete neglect of PMPML, demolition of BRT,
The priority given to building bridges and highways, which leads to a massive increase in the number of vehicles, leads to suicidal policies that increase pollution. Against this background, showing a low level of pollution in the environmental report may just be an attempt by the municipal corporation to show that the situation is not that bad.– Prashant Inamdar,
Transportation expert
Why is there no Al-Qaeda council in the municipality?
According to experts, an AQI (Air Quality Index) board should be put up every day to alert citizens when institutions that measure the city’s daily air quality are located in the city. Citizens also expressed the opinion that the municipality receives huge funds from the central government, and the municipality must provide an account for them to citizens. Although the amount of fine dust (PM10) and very fine dust (2.5) is very high in the city, no one puts a board about this.
The environmental report showed reduced pollution
The municipal corporation’s environment report for 2022-23 showed very low levels of fine and ultrafine dust particles. The amount of fine particulate matter (PM-10) ranges from only 60 to 70, while the amount of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) ranges from 70 to 100. In fact, the average air quality in the city ranges between 132 and 180 as per the daily records of Sanstha Travel . The air quality in Shivajinagar is consistently above 202.
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