SMALL TOWNS, BIG MESS

Something terrible is going on in India's small cities. There are warning signals from whatever data is available — and that is not much, as the Central Pollution Control Board is yet to publish data for 1997. The latest data would provide a more accurate picture of the present air quality status. Visits to a couple of small towns in India overwhelmingly point to a growing menace of air pollution. S S JEEVAN reports from Dehradun and Gajaraula

Dehradun
It is a sight which Suresh Rawat, a hotelier in the hill station of Mussourie that overlooks the town of Dehradun in Uttar Pradesh, could do without. Every winter, thick blue smoke envelops this town, casting a shadow on one of the most picturesque valleys in Asia. "Doon is a broad valley. This sometimes gives rise to a lateral inversion that does not allow hot air to rise from the valley. As a result the smoke settles over the valley," says Hugh Gantzer, resident of Mussourie and a member of a monitoring committee set up by the Supreme Court to restore the "natural normalcy of the Doon Valley".

Down in the valley, Tarun Pal, a resident of Dehradun, is wary of the first rains of the monsoon. "They leave scars on my car," he says. "I am sure that the rains here are acidic, although no studies have been conducted," says Anoop Kumar, editor of Doon City Chronicle, a local magazine.
Air pollution in Dehradun has been in the headlines for some time now. More than a decade ago it was limestone mining, but this was banned in 1986 by the Supreme Court in response to a public interest petition. "Although the SPM levels have shown a downward trend over the years, they are still above the prescribed limits at all the monitoring sites in Dehradun," says Shobha Chaturvedi, assistant scientific officer with the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB). In 1997, the city's annual average SPM level was more than twice the permissible limit and the maximum spm level was more than thrice the standard. Moreover, SPM levels were higher in residential areas compared to industrial areas.

Today, vehicular emissions are the main reason for air pollution. According to the road transport authority, only 10,000 vehicles were registered in Dehradun between 1937 and 1967. There are more than 126,452 vehicles plying on the roads at present, more than 100,000 of these are two-wheelers. However, the length and width of roads have increased only marginally. Result: traffic congestion. "Air pollution is concentrated in the middle of the town. The Saharanpur road, Gandhi road and the Railway station areas are the most polluted areas," says Kumar.
A study by the Dehradun-based People's Science Institute (PSI), a non-governmental organisation, says, "The abnormally high levels of SPM in Dehradun are mainly due to natural dust and particulate-laden smoke from diesel-fuelled vehicles, especially Vikrams, trucks, buses and three-wheelers." The impact on public health has been telling. PSI functionaries say the prevalence of respiratory diseases has risen alarmingly over the past decade and most cases are linked to air pollution. The institute conducted a study in which it selected a few plants and monitored the growth of their leaves at four sites in the town and one control site far away from the town. "We found that the growth of the bougainvillaea, lantana, litchi and mango was severely hampered by air pollution. However, some pollution-tolerant plants like jambolan (jamun) were not affected," says Anita Dutta of PSI.

"Vikrams are petrol-driven, but the replacement rate of petrol engines by diesel engines is about 99 per cent," Kumar says. Officially, about 2,050 Vikrams are registered in the town. "But there are several Vikrams registered in nearby towns like Saharanpur plying in Dehradun," says Ravi Chopra of PSI.
Another cause for concern are two-wheelers. "In the absence of a public transport system - and Vikrams being the only alternative - most middle-class people prefer scooters," says Gantzer. "There is also a class distinction attached with Vikrams. Most people prefer their own vehicles," adds Kumar. He points out that a survey conducted in the late 1980s revealed that on an average, each Dehradun family owned two vehicles. In some cases it was even three. "This number must have increased considerably by now," Kumar comments. Till a viable alternative is found to Vikrams, the sight that a tourist will behold from Mussourie, will not be a pleasant one.

GAJARAULA
There is no evidence more conclusive about the state of air pollution in Gajraula, a sleepy industrial town in Uttar Pradesh, than the air itself. As one enters the town, breathing becomes difficult. "The residents of the town have got used to the air quality. But visitors generally have difficulty in breathing," says an engineer who works in one of the polluting industrial units. CPCB data for 1997 show both the maximum and average levels of SPM way above the prescribed limit.

Gajraula was declared an industrial town in 1981-82. Within a few years, a number of industrial units - mainly chemical and pharmaceutical factories - sprung up. "After the setting up of these units, air pollution has increased at an alarming rate. We do not know what the pollution control board officials are doing. I am sure that these officials are fudging the data, because if an independent study is conducted, the figures would be higher," says Jitendra M Shukla, president, Nagrik Suraksha Samithi, a local organisation campaigning against industrial pollution.

A visit to the office of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) in Moradabad can be quite revealing. Although admitting that industrial units are polluting the air, the regional officer, R C Chowdary, says pollution is only to be expected in an industrial town. "The industrial units have installed pollution control equipment," he justifies. "We have all the requisite pollution control equipment," says Ajay Jain of J K Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Then why is the air polluted? "Poor enforcement," explains Shukla. Repeated visits by the Down To Earth reporter to the UPPCB monitoring station in the town proved futile as there was nobody at the office. CPCB officials in Delhi reveal that of the 20 large- and medium-scale industrial units in Gajraula, nine are classified as polluting.

The health of the residents is in jeopardy. There has been a steep rise in prevalence of asthma, respiratory problems and lung diseases after the industries have come up. Says N Mathur, superintendent of the government hospital in Gajraula: "Sixty-seventy per cent of my patients complain of respiratory problems. Cases of chronic lung problems are increasing. In 1985-86, I used to get an average 5-10 patients every month with respiratory problems. Now it is 30-40 patients," he says. Many of his patients are employed in the industrial units.

Cultivable land has undergone a change after the setting up of the industrial units. Mango, that was extensively cultivated here, has now been replaced by sugarcane and rice. "My mango trees were affected by air pollution from industrial units," says Tirath Ram, whose fields lie just outside the town, and who has now given up growing mango trees. Surely, if scientific studies are conducted on the state of air pollution in Gajraula, the results will be alarming. Till then, the town continues to suffer in silence.

(Down To Earth, Oct 1999)