Despite green awards, Vizag most polluted

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 15, 2013:  The famous One Town of Visakhapatnam happens to be one of the worst-affected areas in the state, as far as the environmental pollution goes, according to the official data recently retrieved by a city based voluntary organisation under the Right to Information Act.

The shocking revelation flies in the face of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust’s tall claims about Vizag being “environmentally the best managed town” in the state. In fact, the situation is so serious that about 44 people died in the town in the past one year owing to the environmental pollution, according a city based voluntary organisation.

“Out of total (44) death toll, as many as 10 were children who died due to respiratory problems and tuberculosis”, said the president of Chaitanya Sravanthi, a voluntary organisation, Dr Shirin Rehman. “Shockingly, the port authorities offered no help to the poor families whose members died due to the environmental pollution”, she told this correspondent.

As per the data obtained by her organisation from the AP Pollution Control Board and Andhra University, the port town is in the fierce grip of environmental pollution. And it is a dangerous kind of air pollution caused by the “repeated handling of coal and Iron ore” at the port for the past several decades.

“The air of the One Town is so badly choked by the thick layers of dust of coal and iron ore that it has become a permanent health hazard for the locals”, said the members of Chaitanya Sravanthi.
Incidentally, the locations where the pollution was recorded also include various schools such as St  Alyosuis School, St John Paris School and others in Visakapatnam.

As far as the pollution goes, the situation is indeed worrying. Sample this: the concentration of the total suspended particulate matter, the respirable suspended particulate matter recorded in various locations is 2-3 times more than the permissible limits. No different is the case with the ambient air quality standards.

As per the data, the RSPM and TSPM levels increased fast since 2001 but was recorded the highest in 2009-10. No wonder, if the environmental activists engaged in the research are worried. “The situation is indeed worrisome, so it is high time that the VPT authorities took urgent measures to mitigate the fast increasing environmental pollution in the town”, Dr Rehman said.

Interestingly, the port of Visakhapatnam is accredited with the ISO Certification (ISO 14001) by the Indian Register of Quality Systems for Environmental Management standards in all its activities including related support services.

It also has an environmental monitoring committee that inspects the port. The VPT is also the recipient of Greentech Gold award in 2007 and environmental excellence award (twice) for outstanding environment management.