Road dust found to be main contributor to Particulate Matter pollution in Hyderabad

Due to various interventions, the air pollution levels were meeting the standards in Nalgonda town and the focus was on Hyderabad for lowering the concentrations.

Hyderabad: Road dust and vehicular were among the major sources contributing to the particulate matter pollution in the city.

This was revealed in a presentation on the Source Apportionment (SA) study carried out in Hyderabad to identify the contribution of different sources to the particulate matter of size less than 10 and 2.5 microns, by Prof. Mukesh Sharma, IIT, Kanpur. The other sources identified included open burning, secondary pollutants and industries.

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Prof.Mukesh Sharma made the presentation at a review of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board on the implementation of the action plan for reduction of air pollution, e-waste and construction & demolition waste implementation in the State, chaired by the Special Chief Secretary, ES&T, Rajat Kumar here on Monday.

Dr.Rajat Kumar, said the Union government was releasing funds under the XV-FC to Hyderabad for taking up activities to reduce the air pollution. As per the results of the SA study, the Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) would allocate these funds to different activities in proportion to the source contribution.

Due to various interventions, the air pollution levels were meeting the standards in Nalgonda town and the focus was on Hyderabad for lowering the concentrations.

Though improvement in the collection of the E-waste from 30,000 tons to 44,000 tons was achieved after pursuance by TSPCB with bulk consumers, the challenge remained with e-waste collection from domestic sector. Dr.Rajat Kumar instructed TSPCB to increase awareness programs through different media for sensitizing all sections and improving the collection mechanism from the domestic sector.

The total capacity for Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste was increased from 1000 to 2000 TPD and Dr. Rajat Kumar instructed that the C&D processed material should be made mandated to re-use in different projects.

The meeting was attended by team from IIT, Kanpur, Neetu Prasad, Member Secretary, TSPCB, expert committee members include Dr.B.Sengupta, Ex MS, CPCB, Dr.TVBS Ramakrishna, Scientist, NEERI, Dr.Asif Qureshi, IITH and others.