HYDERABAD: Bright lights, and high-intensity outdoor lighting including electronic billboards have become a silent menace for the city’s environment. According to several research reports, light pollution is on the rise in the city. This results in increasing cases of sleep disorders and other health risks such as obesity, depression, and diabetes.
Light pollution, also known as photo pollution, is the presence of an excessive amount of artificial light in the night environment. This light pollution fundamentally alters natural conditions, affecting both humans and animals.
A recent study published in the Urban Climate Journal, claims that light pollution in the State has increased at the rate of 7.4 per cent per year from 2012 to 2016. Throwing some light on the findings of the study, author Pavan Kumar said that Telangana, along with Delhi, Maharashtra, and Karnataka have experienced an increase in “very high light pollution intensity” from 1993 to 2013.
Environment experts claim that light pollution affects the day and night life cycle of human beings and animals, and nocturnal life of both animals and birds, as excess light obstructs their mechanisms of sight and sense.
Another research paper, authored by Prof Siba Prasad Mishra of a civil engineering department, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Bhubaneswar, states Hyderabad has the highest “light pollution in India with artificial brightness of 7,790 µcd/m2 (unit of the luminous intensity per square meter).
While light pollution does not raise alarm that air or water pollution does, the paper warned that Hyderabad has lost its night sky, posing a health risk for citizens.
Citing that constant urban expansion in the city, is one of the major reason for the light pollution, experts say that an increase in the new suburban residential areas and industrial and agricultural development attributes to increasing brightness in some patches of the city.
PCB trying to study effects of light pollution
While the Telangana State Pollution Control board has not put out any data of the city’s light pollution on their website, an official told Express said that the department is trying to study the ill effects of both light and noise pollution in detailed fashion. Following this, strict guidelines will be formed to curb the same