As the mercury is nose-diving in city, the cases of open burning of biomass have also increased drastically. Increase in biomass and garbage burning has turned the air quality of Nagpur from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘very poor’. On Saturday, the ambient air quality of Nagpur city was 343, which is ‘very poor’ as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) norms. New Delhi, which is infamous internationally for its poor air quality, recorded ‘severe’ air quality with 416 on Saturday. For Nagpur, with this count, the air quality index (AQI) failed to meet CPCB standards for safe level. The deteriorating air quality is putting people at additional risk of respiratory diseases and other health problems. Nagpur city has recorded ‘very poor’ air quality in the last six days. On December 2, city’s air quality was 326 around 7 pm. On December 1, AQI of the city was 333 at around 3 pm.

 

Whereas on November 30, the air quality was 305 at 11 pm. On November 29, the AQI was 257 and crossed 300 mark on November 28 with PM 2.5 level at 310. “Burning of ‘chulhas’ in slum areas and garbage burning all over the city are responsible for the air pollution in last few days,” A M Kare, Regional Officer, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) told ‘The Hitavada’. Kare said, “Our team visited some slum areas in the city on Friday, where we found that, most of the slum-dwellers are burning ‘chulhas’ for boiling water throughout the day. The residents are using biomass to burn the chulha, thus deteriorating the air quality.” The officer further said, “Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the mitigation of biomass burning should be done by the Municipal Corporation. In Nagpur city’s air quality mitigation plan, it is clearly mentioned that, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) should take action against the burning of biomass in city.” In 2021, Centre For Sustainable Development (CFSD), a local NGO, conducted a study on the impact of ‘chulhas’ on the health of slum dwellers. The NGO conducted the study at city’s Bhandewadi slum, where they found very serious repercussions about biomass burning on the health of the slum dwellers. While talking with The Hitavada, Leena Buddhe, Founder, CFSD said, “It is right that biomass burning in slum areas and all over city is leading to poor air quality. The claim of MPCB is right and we proved it in our study.” Along with biomass burning, the burning of garbage during the winter also increases and it must be also be included among the causes of poor air quality of city, said Buddhe. “CFSD is working on another study, in which, we are doing a door to door survey in a slum to know about the impact of biomass burning in city citizens’ health.

 

So far, we found that 100% households are using ‘chulhas’ during winter this year in that slum leading to air pollution,” she added. “Currently, we are working on the reasons behind biomass burning during winter. As per our survey, in winter, the need of boiling water increases and for this, the slum dwellers use ‘chulhas’ instead of using LPG cylinders. The LPG cylinders are not affordable for slum dwellers during winter even after Government’s subsidised rates,” said Buddhe. Buddhe further said, “The civic body should take action against biomass burning to improve the air quality of the city. If the situation remains the same, then the air quality will deteriorate further.” Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Commissioner, Solid Waste Management Department, NMC said, “NMC is collecting fine from citizens who are burning garbage in city. In last couple of weeks, the number of cases of garbage burning throughout the city has increased and we are also fining people for this.” Nagpur city has four CAAQMS stations in which only one station situated in Civil Lines area is working. Remaining three are yet to be operationalised.