Air pollution wreaking havoc in Northeast states: Study

GUWAHATI: Air pollution, this year's theme of World Environment Day, has brought to focus how it is slowly turning into a major health problem in the Northeast where deaths deaths due to acute respiratory infection (ARI) are on the rise.
The National Health Profile (NHP), 2018, released by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) last year, reported that Assam 225 deaths (highest in region) due to ARI in 2017, followed by Mizoram (36), Manipur (23) and Tripura 21 deaths.Nagaland recorded nine deaths, Sikkim (8), Meghalaya (7) and Arunchal Pradesh (3).
In 2016, Assam recorded 200 deaths due to ARI, Mizoram (68), Sikkim (43), Manipur (21), Tripura (7) and Arunchal Pradesh (4). However, Nagaland didn't record any death due to ARI that year.
The NHP, 2018, highlighted Meghalaya had the highest number of ARI cases (3,33,772) cases among eight states in the region in 2017. Tripura, with 1,78,570 ARI cases, is in the second position followed by Sikkim (93,270), Manipur (51,205), Arunachal Pradesh (36,250), Nagaland (31,158), Mizoram (29,595) and Assam (22,834).
State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority ( SEIAA) chairman KG Bhattacharyya, who attended a World Environment Day programme organized by the Pollution Control Board, Assam, here on Wednesday, expressed concern over the increasing trend of particulate matter (PM10) (particles of size less than 10 micrometer) in five cities and towns of Assam. The places are Guwahati, Nalbari, Nagaon, Silchar & Sivasagar. Bhattacharyya said particulate matter (PM2.5) pollutants are more dangerous than PM10 level in the air.
Former Meghalaya governor RS Mushahary said the government has to do a lot for fulfilling the 'Pollution Free Environment' agenda. He added that citizens have to be involved in achieving this goal.
Biodiversity conservation organization Aaranyak said monitoring of air quality by the Assam Pollution Control Board at Bamunimaidan in Guwahati has revealed the presence of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) and suspended particulate matter (SPM) well above the prescribed limit since 2008. Aaranyak said Guwahati's air is found to have very high content of black carbon.
"There must be a paradigm change in our public transport system and related policy to bring down the rapid growth of vehicles out on the roads by introducing a mass transit system that will also help in climate change mitigation. Introduction of clean fuel and discouraging prevalence of dirty fuels as a policy strategy will go a long way in curbing vehicular air pollution," said an Aaranyak official.
Aaranyak has planned a series of awareness and action-based interventions for sensitizing people about the cause and effect of air pollution.