Deteriorating air quality in Lucknow
The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) has ordered the closure of two factories in the state capital’s Talkatora industrial area as the city inched close to the ‘very poor’ category from the ‘poor’ category.
“Letter has been issued to shut the operations of two factories in Talkatora industrial area, one of them being a plywood factory and the other a guthka (pan masala) factory. The letter was issued after the two failed to give any relevant response to a show cause notice issued to them,” said JP Maurya, regional officer of UPPCB, speaking exclusively to HT.
Maurya said that a letter has been sent to UPPCB head office and after formal approval further action will be taken as soon as possible.
“If an industry is violating pollution norms, the board can shut down their operation under the power given to them under Section 31 of Air Pollution Control Act 1981,” he said.
Talkatora, which has a number of factories, often tops the pollution charts in live monitoring stations set up by the board while remaining under the ‘severe category’.
“When inspections were carried out, our team found the fault in their smoke chimneys. The smoke was released into the air without treatment as the water sprinkler in the chimneys of these two factories malfunctioned,” the officer added.
Sweeping roads without sprinkling water causes AQI rise: UPPCB
A study revealed that sweeping roads without sprinkling water was a cause of rising AQI during morning hours, according to UPPCB. The board has also written to the Lucknow Municipal Corporation suggesting the use of water before sweeping across the city.
“The live station charts were studied and it was seen that the PM 2.5 value increased during morning hours, especially between 8am and 11am. This is usually when sweeping is done and the monitors show a rise in the value of PM 2.5 during these hours. It is requested to use water to settle down the dust before sweeping,” the letter read.
Board writes to NHAI for dust control
With an ongoing bridge construction project on Kanpur Road under Sarojini Nagar also becoming a major source of pollution in the area, UPPCB has written to the National Highways Authority of India to highlight the violations being made by the company which is doing the construction work.
“During inspection, the soil used in road construction was found to be in disarray and the arrangement of green mesh and barricading on the sides of the road for dust prevention was not found installed at the construction site and neither was water sprinkling found at the said site, due to which excessive amount of dust particles were found flying due to the movement of vehicles. Due to the above, the ambient air quality of the referenced area is getting affected and, naturally, the AQI level will be adversely affected,” said the letter dated November 20 by UPPCB to NHAI.
“To prevent dust, green nets should be installed at the construction site, barricading should be done on both sides of the road and a regular sprinkling of water for dust control of the soil used in road construction at the said site,” it said.
