On 1st morning of new year, Kolkata breathes in poison

KOLKATA: If morning shows the day, the PM2.5 count on the first morning of the year is an ominous forecast of what lies ahead. The count for ultra-fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers on January 1hovered in the severe category all day and averaged 402, six times the permissible limit.

New Year’s Eve celebrations played a part in the spike in PM2.5 count with indiscriminate use of fireworks from 11.30 pm to 1am and beyond releasing huge amounts of particulate matter in the air. This is identical to what happened in early November, when bursting of firecrackers on Kali Puja and Diwali nights led to the spiralling of PM2.5 count that remained high till mid-December. With no major change forecast in the city’s weather, residents may have to battle the effects of severe pollution for all of January, and perhaps, even February.


The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) that predicts weather condition and its impact on pollution in major Indian cities, had on Monday issued a warning that any new trigger, particularly due to ‘open fire and pyrotechnic display (firecrackers)’, will make the air heavier and thicker leading to rapid deterioration in air quality to severe-plus range.

Experts rue lack of publicity of SC directive

Environment activists noted with concern the lack of publicity and indiscriminate violation of the Supreme Court order restricting fireworks between 11.55pm and 12.30am in New Year-related celebration on December 31 and January 1. “The spike in air pollution during this time is routine. But pollution of this level is unprecedented. The situation warrants graded response action plan (GRAP) from the pollution controlling authority — West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB). But the integrated action plan, including preventive and controlling action, has been unfortunately missing,” said Biswajit Mukherjee, former law officer at WBPCB and a passionate environmentalist.

Environment crusader Subhas Datta, too, expressed fear that the blatant violation of the SC order would have a snowballing effect on Kolkata’s residents. “The city will suffer for at least a month for this one night’s mad celebration,” he rued.

On the first day of year, the hourly PM2.5 count at air quality monitoring station at Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) off BT Road in north Kolkata hovered around 500-mark between midnight and 2 am. Thereafter, it stayed close to the 400-mark. Even the air quality monitoring station at Victoria Memorial Hall, which shows the best available air quality in the city, never plunged belo 350.

Fireworks apart, burning of waste — both for warmth and to avoid disposal — added to the pollution. Realising the need to act, Kolkata Police on Monday had announced a ban on waste burning, a move that has been welcomed by environmentalists. But they call for more measures like ban on entry of trucks into the city to help bring down the PM2.5 count.

“New pollutants are piling up on already poor air quality we are inheriting from the previous day. We need urgent measures like Delhi adopts to again bring down the pollution level to a reasonable level,” said auto emission consultant Somendra Mohan Ghosh.

In December, air quality index was severe on seven days, very poor on 21 day and poor for just a day. It was moderate on December 18 and 19, thanks to untimely rain. “This is the worst ever December as far as city’s air quality goes. There is no room for complacency that we are better than Delhi. In fact, in most of the days, we are far worse than Delhi,” said Ajay Mittal of Kolkata Clean Air, a platform for environmentalists and activists.