GUWAHATI, Oct 22: The Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research (C-NES) had condcted a survey in Guwahati and Shillong titled ‘Impact of air pollution in specific areas of Guwahati and Shillong on vulnerable groups (school children, labourers, rickshaw pullers, traffic policemen, petrol station workers and roadside vendors’. The findings of this survey were made public in Guwahati today and these findings show that the problem of air pollution in capital cities Guwahati and Shillong may be worse that what is generally assumed.

C-NES trustee Sanjoy Hazarika said, “Guwahati and Shillong are Northeast’s most rapidly growing cities with a steady rise in polution. These cities are major business hubs for the entire region. The energy consumption (fossil fuel) has increased tremendously with an increasing number of vehicles. There is growing need for people to gather information on health effects associated with air pollution. Hence the survey was conducted to evaluate the extent of pressures on health caused by vehicular pollution and to conducts awareness drives with civil society organizations on the impact of vehicular pollution on human health, among others.”

The survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents, 500 in Guwahati and the other 500 in Shillong. The finding reveal that Khanapara in Guwahati and Police Bazar in Shillong are most polluted by vehicular traffic and there is serious need to reduce traffic congestion in these two areas.

More than 70 per cent of the vehicles plying on the roads of Guwahati and Shillong do not have emission clearance certificate and the Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) levels in Bamunimaidam, Dispur/Khanapara, Gopinath Nagar and Shantipur in Guwahati are much higher than the National Ambient Air Quality standards. The air temperature data for the past six years has been collected from the Indian Meteorological Station, Borjhar and the Directorate of Agriculture, Shillong. From the collected data, a rise of 7 degree celcius in air temperature is seen in Guwahati in the last six years and a rise of 10 degree celcius in air temperature has been seen in Shillong in the past five years.

Respondents, both in Guwahati and Shillong, cited health problems like skin diseases, eye problems, cough problems, running nose, bronchitis and asthma. Khanapara recorded the highest percentage of the diseases mentioned. The traffic policemen interviewed said that they mostly suffered from asthma and skin diseases like itching. Constant exposure to exhaust air from vehicles has affected their skin as well as heart and lungs. It is also found that traffic policemen are seldom given pollution safety masks during working hours.

Dust pollution is another important agent polluting Guwahati’s air and posing a grave health hazard threat to its people. So far as traffic intensity is concerned, Khanapara has the highest traffic intensity of 80 vehicles per minute followed by Ganeshguri with 65 vehicles per minute. In Shillong Malki Point has the highest traffic intensity of 90 vehicles per minute followed by Police Bazar with 75 vehicles per minute.

Dr Bhaskarjyoti Saud, who lead the survey, said: “Traffic laws have to be enforced strictly, mass awareness has to be developed on the effect of vehicular pollution and on traffic awareness, the use of public transport system to travel to the workplace should be popularized, vehicle owners should take their vehicles for regular emission tests and there should be policy intervention on alternative transit route for the city and multi-storeyed parking places to check traffic congestion caused due to illegal parking.”