Berhampur Residents hit by dust, sound pollution

According to findings of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), in most areas of Berhampur, dust and sound pollution was much higher than the acceptable limits. The SPCB authorities measure air pollution in the city through the ‘respirable dust sampler’ machine at their office twice in every week. According to sources, the findings always state that presence of dust particles and other pollutants in the air of residential areas of Berhampur was higher than acceptable limits. It may be noted that the acceptable limit of dust in air is 100 microns for residential areas.

In June 2013, the SPCB had written to the Berhampur Municipal Corporation to initiate measures to reduce dust pollution in the city as it would lead to health hazards of residents. But till now no measures regarding it have been taken and the dust pollution is on the rise.

The major source of dust pollution are the roads which are coated with dust because they are not cleaned regularly as well as the garbage dumps. The SPCB authorities had suggested removal of dust from roads at regular intervals as well as sprinkling of water on roads and garbage dumps.

Sound pollution is also high in the city. It increases manifold during festive season. As per the data taken by the SPCB during past Dushera and Diwali at Ankuli, Girija square, Brahma Nagar and MKCG medical college campus in the city, noise was higher than prescribed limits. As per the data taken during last Dushera, noise was around 61.2 decibels during day and 42.5 during night on MKCG medical college campus. It increased to 63.8 decibels during day and 52.2 at night on the day of Diwali. Similar was the situation in the other three points, from where data regarding noise pollution had been collected. Source: The Hindu