Nagaland Pollution Control Board (NPCB) monitored the ambient air quality at Purana Bazaar, Dimapur on November 10 for 24 hours, beginning from 6 a.m. till November 11, 6 a.m., to gauge the levels of pollution and to compare the results to the permissible limits of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
In handouts given to media persons, member secretary, Rusovil John said that the results showed that particulate matter size 10 (PM10) exceeded 4 times the permissible limit while particulate matter size 2.5 (PM2.5) exceeded 3 times the permissible limit.
He also informed that the location was chosen because of it being very polluted by movement of vehicles on unmaintained and dusty roads, burning of wood chips by the furniture units nearby, burning of waste etc. Rusovil said that air pollution has become so serious that people are seen with their mouth and nose covered with handkerchiefs these days. The worse effected may be those people exposed to dust and smoke the entire day such as the people living near the busy roads and the traffic police in the junctions.
He also added that annual average concentration of RSPM levels in Dimapur and Kohima show increasing trends, as it is crossing the national standards of 60 ug/m3. The latest RSPM level in Dimapur was found to be 125 in 2016 and 92 in Kohima.
Dimapur is the most polluted city in Nagaland while Kohima comes in second. Bad roads are one of the factors for which dust pollution is increasing in the city, especially at Purana Bazaar highway in Dimapur.
Air pollution due to dust particles has become a major threat for public health and environment. John informed, recent investigations revealed that the chance of lung cancer is increased due to dust pollution as it directly impact lung function and in turn causes cardiovascular disease and chronic abnormalities in respiratory systems.
John also informed that a proposed action plan for non-attainment towns/cities, with respect to air quality management in Kohima and Dimapur, was submitted to the state government and concerned departments on September 1, 2017, however no feedback has been received from the concerned authorities.
It may be noted that Respirable Dust Samplers were used for sampling of Particulate Matter (PM 10), where PM10 refers to fine particles that are 10 micrometers (µm) or smaller in diameter and PM2.5 refers to particles that are 2.5 micrometers (µm) or smaller in diameter. The results indicated that the air pollution from particulate matter at Purana bazaar for PM10 was 404.7 µg/m³ and 212 µg/m³ for PM2.5. For PM10, the permissible limit is 100 µg/m³ and for PM 2.5 the permissible limit is 60 µg/m³.