HYDERABAD: How long would it take for Hyderabad to suffer the fate of our smog-smothered national capital? Not too long, given that the city figures among the top 100 cities in the world as far as terrible air quality goes (WHO 2011). However, officials think there’s still time before the rooster crows.
In India, air quality is measured from good to severe. In Hyderabad, it varies from moderate to poor. While scientists opine that the metro’s air quality could slip permanently into the poor category in three to four years, N Raveendhar, a senior environmental scientist at the Telangana State Pollution Control Board, says it is unlikely Hyderabad will witness a thick smog as in Delhi.
The reason for this optimism, according to environmentalist K Purushotham Reddy, is that Hyderabad, unlike Delhi, has no thermal power plants belching smoke into the air, and there is no large-scale burning of crop residue in the hinterland.
However, a 2014 paper titled ‘Source emissions and health impacts of urban air pollution in Hyderabad, India’ by Sarath K Guttikunda and Ramani V Kopakka published in Air Quality Atmosphere and Health indicates there is cause for more urgent concern.
In Hyderabad, the major sources of air pollution are vehicle exhaust and road dust. Raveendhra points to a 2008 study in Hyderabad that indicated vehicles caused 49 per cent of the pollution and road dust 33 per cent. However, despite these warning signs, vehicle growth continues unabated.