Lucknow’s deteriorating air turns artificial lungs black in just 5 days

Lucknow: Lucknow’s air quality index is deteriorating day by day. The artificial lungs installed by environmentalists and doctors to check the air quality of the city turned black within five days of installation.

Environment activists, ‘Doctors For Clean Air ‘and ‘Climate Agenda’ installed artificial lungs in the state’s capital Lucknow at Lalbagh area near the Municipal Corporation office. The lungs turned black in just five days. They have High-Efficiency Particulate Absorber filters and exhaust fans fitted in them which suck the air in and make the set-up function almost like real human lungs.

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World Health Organisation (WHO) in its Global Ambient Air Quality Database found that, Uttar Pradesh accounts for four of the worst performing cities in terms of air pollution – Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra and Varanasi. The fact was proved after the artificial lungs installed started turning black in just five days.

The installation was aimed at highlighting the impact of air pollution on healthy lungs. The installed lungs started getting black within 24 hours and turned completely black in five days, raising serious concerns about the quality of air people breathe in the city.

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The lungs have been installed in front of the Municipal Corporation office as it is one of the busiest roads and people can witness the colour of the lungs getting changed due to high level of pollution in the air of that area. It took only 24 hours for the lungs to change colour while it took three days in Delhi, and 18 days in Bengaluru.

Mayor of Lucknow, Sanyukta Bhatia who launched the installation of the artificial lungs said that this experiment is definitely raising awareness among people of Lucknow on the problem of pollution.  She said that Lucknow Municipal Corporation has also installed automatic road-cleaning machines. These machines will clean the roads without generating any dust, will sprinkle water on the area being cleaned and has the capacity to suck garbage, debris and even dead animals.

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Dr. Suryakant, Head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonary of King George’s Medical University and Lucknow convenor of Doctors for Clean Air said that Lucknow is one of the most polluted cities in the world as per World Health Organization (WHO). People are exposed to high levels of toxic air. There has been an increase in the number of patients visiting hospitals with complaints of respiratory problems in the last three months.

He further added that the Doctors For Clean Air in collaboration with environmental activists and the civil society of Lucknow will be presenting a memorandum to the State Pollution Control Board of Uttar Pradesh, the Environment Minister and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh demanding that the air pollution norms be strictly implemented in the city.

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Suryakant also said that burning of biofuels for cooking and heating is a big reason for pollution in Lucknow. Most of the houses in slum areas and in villages do not have LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) connection. We as Doctors for Clean Air make an appeal to the government of Uttar Pradesh to identify such houses that do not have cleaner ways of cooking and connect them with Central government’s Ujjwala Yojana.

This experiment has turned out to be an eye opener for the residents of Lucknow who need to be aware of climate changes in the city. Only government initiatives will not change the scenario, public participation is equally important to curb pollution in the capital.