Bhopal appears clean but air quality worries grow:Water spraying near AQI monitors fails to curb pollution; experts warn Delhi’s errors are repeating

Bhopal’s air remains in the ‘very poor’ category, but the Pollution Control Department is spraying water at key locations to make the air quality appear better on screens. An investigation by Dainik Bhaskar found that water is sprayed 10 to 15 times a day at the Collectorate Office, TT Nagar, and Paryavaran Parisar Shahpura. These places have the city’s live air quality monitoring systems. Spraying water temporarily settles dust, making the machines show lower AQI levels, but harmful particles continue to stay in the air. Location-1: Collectorate Office By doing this, the situation of these locations looks better. Around the monitoring system installed in front of the Collectorate, water is sprayed on the roads more than 15 times daily. It should be noted that from this location, the situation of areas like Lalghati, Royal Market, Hamidia Hospital, Idgah Hills, etc., is visible. Location-2: Environment Complex Spraying is also continuously done around the environment complex. This road is sprayed more than 15 times daily. These areas show impact This indicates the areas of Arera Colony, Shahpura, Bittan Market, and Vande Bharat Square, etc. The monitoring station here is built in the environment complex. Location-3: TT Nagar Impact in these areas In TT Nagar, water is sprayed more than 15 times daily. This includes Link Road, New Market, Roshanpur Malviya Nagar, etc. Here, the monitoring system is operated from the police station. This is playing with people’s lives Environmental expert Subhash C Pandey stated that this method only shows clean air on reports, but does not stop the poison reaching people’s lungs. As soon as the air quality deteriorates in Delhi, advisories and actions are immediately taken. In Bhopal, just drop the graph and say the air is clean; this is a dangerous game. He warned that the AQI has crossed 300 (Very Poor). In such a situation, people should stop morning walks and children, the elderly, and asthma patients should be prevented from going outside. Need for more than 25 stations Currently, monitoring systems are installed only at a few selected locations in the city. Experts say that considering Bhopal’s population and geographical spread, at least 25 live monitoring systems are needed. There is no record of the actual air quality in areas like MP Nagar, Board Office, Kolar Road, Hamidia Road, Karond, Bhanpur, and Nadra Bus Stand. Pollution is likely to be even higher in these areas, but it does not appear in the data. Experts immediately suggested two necessary steps Copying the Delhi Model: Improve the numbers, not the air Environmental expert Subhash C. Pandey says that Bhopal is repeating the same mistake that Delhi made for a long time: “When the air is bad, show good numbers on the screen, don’t make real improvements on the ground.” He said that like the Delhi government, here too the focus is more on data management and less on public health. In Delhi, as soon as the AQI crosses 350, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is implemented, stopping construction, rationing traffic, and strictly prohibiting biomass burning. But Bhopal’s situation reached very poor quality, yet no strict steps were taken. This policy is a direct gamble with public health because here the problem is not being treated, only the report is being made up. Status of unmonitored areas unknown Why pollution increases in fog and winter
Environmental experts say that AQI generally increases during the winter season. In winter, harmful gases emitted from vehicles cannot expand and remain suspended in the atmosphere. As the cold increases, gas and dust particles remain in the atmosphere for longer. This increases the AQI. Along with this, due to heavy fog, harmful gases present in the atmosphere are often unable to dissolve. The system should be installed throughout the city MPPCB Regional Manager Brijesh Sharma said- This spraying should not be limited to selected places but should be done throughout the city. We have told the corporation and administration in this regard that if spraying makes a difference, then this arrangement should be made throughout the city, not just on selected roads. Pollution testing machine is separate Regarding the entire matter, Rajendra Kumar Trivedi, in-charge of the branch, stated that they control pollution through a total of 18 machines. The photo that was shown cannot be called correct, because water is sprayed from Shahpura to Vitthal Market using the machine. The vehicle cannot be driven in the middle of the road. Meanwhile, it is natural for spraying to occur around the pollution-monitoring machine. The pollution-checking machine is installed separately.