BENGALURU: Congress MLC Dinesh Gooligowda has warned that the Bengaluru’s air quality is deteriorating rapidly and that if measures are not taken, the city will become another New Delhi. In a letter addressed to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar dated December 6, he urged that steps be taken to curb air pollution. Acting immediately on Gooligowda’s letter, the DCM directed the chief secretary to set up an expert committee to submit a report on air pollution.
In his letter, Gooligowda, who is also vice-chairman of Karnataka State Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority, said, “There are 1.2 crore vehicles in Bengaluru for a population of 1.47 crore, with almost every citizen owning a vehicle as a result of which pollution is increasing.”
Stating that on average 2,563 new vehicles are getting registered daily in the city, Gooligowda said experts have predicted that in the next 5-10 years, Bengaluru’s Air Quality Index (AQI), which is in the ‘moderate range’ of 50-70, would jump to the ‘severe range’.
He demanded that a high-level technical committee be set up, comprising environmental scientists, mobility experts, public health experts, subject experts, along with officials from the pollution board and the state transport department. “The committee must decide the pollution trajectory of Bengaluru for the next decade and recommend immediate and long-term measures to curb pollution. They have to develop a comprehensive clean-air action plan for Bengaluru,” the MLC stated.