BENGALURU: Air pollution in eight Karnataka cities is higher than the prescribed levels of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), according to an assessment of pollution in Indian cities and National Ambient and Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP), conducted by Greenpeace. The report titled Airpocalypse 4, released on Tuesday, stated that Bengaluru, Raichur, Belagavi, Tumakuru, Kolar, Vijayapura, Hubballi, Dharwad and Bagalkot are heavily polluted as the deadly particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels are way higher than the prescribed 60 micrograms under quality standards.
“Bengaluru and Raichur tops the list of non-attainment cities in Karnataka with annual levels of 90 micrograms of PM10. Non-attainment cities refer to cities that do not comply with NAAQS standards. Despite the fact that every city in the state is polluted beyond safety limits, only Bengaluru, Davangere, Kalaburagi and Hubballi-Dharwad from Karnataka have been included in the non-attainment category,” said a press statement from Greenpeace.
Greenpeace India’s Senior Campaigner Avinash Chanchal said, “It’s worrying to see that more than 80 per cent of the cities have PM10 levels exceeding 60 micrograms. If we want to make NCAP a national programme, we have to cover all polluted cities into it and implement it with the addition of specific pollution and emission reduction targets in a time-bound manner.” “While vehicular emissions within the city are a part of the problem, major emitters in the nearby regions should not be ignored,” he said.