Hyderabad breathes easy during the holiday
Hyderabad: The best time to stay in Hyderabad seems to be during holidays.
With a long holiday for Sankranti and a large population off to their hometowns for the festival, air pollution has come down significantly. Even noise pollution had shown a moderate dip.
The average prescribed particulate matter content in 24 hours is 100 micro grams per cubic metre of air. However, on regular days in different parts of the city, the PM content records almost 100 to 200 per cent more and hovers around 200-280 ug/m3. But, of late, the same air pollutants in the city air showed a significant fall that was near the safer limits.
The PM10 content in the air as on January 13 (a non holiday) was around 199 in Panjagutta and it recorded 170 on January 14 and then dropped to 111 on January 15. Similar was the case in other parts of the city like Zoo Park. On January 13, it was 266 and fell to 164 on January 16. Even at the Hyderabad Central University, Gachibowli the PM content recorded was 147 on January 13 and dropped to 99 on January 16. In Sanathnagar, it showed 129 on January 13 and 86 on January 16, according to the latest examination of air quality by Telangana State Pollution Control Board.
Even the content of ammonia in air, which leads to the formation of PM, has also decreased significantly. On regular days the ammonia content crosses 109 against the standard permitted limit of 100u gram/cubic meter. During the three-day holiday, it dipped to 68 per cent.
Read: Noise levels in Hyderabad hazardous
“The significant dip in pollution is due to the decrease in ever-flowing stream of vehicular traffic, honking and traffic snarls during the holidays,” said P. Veerana, a scientist at the TS PCB.”
According to the study of TS PCB, vehicular pollution contributed 50 per cent, biomass burning 8 to 10 per cent, industrial emission, cooling systems, including air conditioners and others, 32 to 40 per cent to air pollution. However, noise pollution showed only a moderate fall of 2 to 10 per cent in different parts of the city.
The prescribed limit in commercial zone is 65 decibels. On January 13, the noise measurements in Abids showed 73.9 db and on January 16, it showed 69.9. In residential areas like Jubilee Hills it was 59.8 db and 52.0 db.
“The moderate fall in noise pollution against air pollutants is due to the contentious Hyderabad Metro Rail construction activity and operation of state run RTC buses,” said a TS PCB scientist.
The ambient sound levels recorded from the five stations at Jubilee Hills (residential), Punjagutta, Abids (commercial zone), Jeedimetla (industrial zone) and the Zoo Park (silence zone), have all crossed the threshold levels prescribed for each zone.
Realtime monitor set up in Telangana:
HyderabadIn a bid to spread awareness about the increasing noise pollution levels in the city, the Telangana State Pollution Control Board has set up a realtime noise monitoring display system in different parts of the city.
The display system in the form of LED televisions, will display noise levels of 11 areas of the city every 10 minutes.
Five display systems have been placed in the city, at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, at Yashoda Hospital in Somajiguda, at Hyderabad Public School in Begumpet and two near Sanathnagar in PCB office.
“Presently, the sound levels in the city are way beyond the permissible limits, that is why the department decided on showing the levels of noise pollution to the public,” said P. Veeranna, scientist at TS PCB
PCB has put up real-time noise monitoring system at Somajiguda, Yashoda Hospital, RGIA airport, Hyderabad Public School and Sanathnagar.
