NEWS

The air pollution has touched dangerous levels in the National Capital Region (NCR) towns of Noida and Ghaziabad due to increasein vehicularraffic and industrial growth, officials said. The levels of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), comprising of gases such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, in the residential areas of Noida have shot up to 400 mg per cubic metre as against the permitted level of 200 mg per cubic metre.

The Residual Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in the residential areas has shot up to 135 mg per cubic metre as against the normal level of 100 mg per cubic metre. In the industrial areas, the RSPM levels have gone up by as much as 55 units to touch 555 mg per cubic metre. "The air has got much filthier than it used to be till two years back. A major reason for this is that the number of vehicles has simply increased two-fold on the city's roads and thepollution enforcement has not become that effective," a senior official of Gautam Buddha Nagar Pollution Control Board (PCB) said. The PCB recently issued notices to about 18 industrial units asking them to control their air discharge or face closure.As per the latest data prepared by the PCB, the district has about 90 brick kilns running without compliance to pollution control norms, to which the department recently issued notices. In Ghaziabad district, the SPM levels measured in industrial areas like Sahibabad and Meerut Road have been found to be as high as 580 mg per cubic metre, against the accepted levels of 500 units. In residential areas of Ghaziabad, the RSPM levels were discovered to be 150 mg per cubic metre, 50 units above the normal level. The Sahibabad industrial area has about 400 highly polluting units, comprising of 100 dyeing units, paper plants, meat processing
plants and other hazardous chemical unit.