WHITEFIELD: Whitefield, the IT hub of the city that houses many upscale multi-storey complexes, is choking as the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) levels in the area have gone up alarmingly.
The industrial zone has the highest RSPM level of 239 mg per cubic metre of air, as against the national permissible level of 60 mg per cubic metre, as per the data available with the Karnataka Pollution Control Board for the year 2014-15. This is a whooping 283 per cent above the national average and is going up by the day.
Elangovan Elam, member of the resident group Whitefield Rising said, “Bad roads and too many vehicles in the locality lead to slow moving traffic and as a result, the pollution levels are high.”
The area also houses the notorious Varthur Lake. Untreated sewage and industrial waste has been dumped in the lake for the past many years destroying the rich bio-diversity.
Ramaiah, a farmer residing near the lake, said, “Earlier, we used to go fishing in the lake but now we don’t eat the fish caught from the lake.”
Despite complaints and the Centre asking for a project report on the lake, the state government has not moved a finger, said a resident.
Most complexes don’t have sewage treatment plants, and even the ones that do don’t treat the sewage properly and dump it in the lake.