BENGALURU: Increasing air pollution in the city, contributed by a change in lifestyles of the haves, has had a negative impact on the have-nots, in particular on women and children residing in slums, said well known children lung specialist Dr H Paramesh on Tuesday.
“Due to air pollution, incidence of Asthma in children had increased from nine per cent in 1979 to 25.5 per cent in 2009. Persistent Asthma had increased from 20 per cent to 72.5 per cent and persistent severe asthma had increased from four per cent to 11 years from 1994 to 2009,’’ Dr Paramesh informed while addressing the gathering at the first official meeting of new C40 Air Quality network (a global effort to tackle air pollution in urban areas across the world), organised at ITC Gardenia on Tuesday.
Speaking at the meet, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said that he favoured stringent legislation to control air pollution. “Though Bengaluru is not among the top 20 polluting cities, we cannot remain complacent and need to control air pollution for future generations,’’ he stressed.