Dear Editor,
I would like to draw the attention of the concerned highway authority towards the ongoing 4-lane construction project to kindly boost up the work or atleast start Black Topping from Ganga to O-point to minimise the level of dust.
You might be unaware of the fact that according to an IIT report, road dust makes up over 50% of the total PM10 particles and about 38% of PM2.5 particles. These ultrafine particulates, which can measure upto 30 times tinier than the width of a human hair and reach the bloodstream of a person through respiratory system, pose serious health risks which can worsen or trigger chronic diseases such as Sinusitis, Bronchitis, asthma and other respiratory issues.
The authorities can take necessary measures to help minimise dust pollution by providing vacuum machines which can suck away the dust to some extent. As per the District Administration’s order, water is to be sprinkled at intervals between 10AM-12 Noon, 2PM-4PM & 7PM-9PM, but for the past couple of days, as witnessed by the shopkeepers and roadside dwellers, we barely see the water tanker sprinkling water over the road regularly at these intervals and in the morning, which is the requirement of most of us as we all need fresh air to breathe.
It’s so hard to open the windows in the morning and as of now, the capital city’s air has rather become quite similar to that of a toxic environment, the dust has made the air literally unfit to breathe. Most of the Cotton masks that people wear are capable of protecting us only from about 20% amount of the dust, what about the 80% dust? School going children, roadside residents, vendors and shopkeepers can be the worst victims of chronic diseases in the later period.
Playing the Swachh Bharat song in the morning may do a little good, but it won’t do any good in a long run if nothing is done now to curb this dust issue.
It has to align in with keeping our atmosphere dust free. It would be tough to wait for a year or another for the project to be complete and side-by-side watch dust particles consume our lives and devastate our healthy living.
It has been said that the effects of hugely large amounts of dust particles in the atmosphere can far outweigh even the deadly and hazardous effects of Carbon and pose serious health risks. The parking system needs to be regulated because if most of the spaces are being used up for parking now, what’s the point of a 4-lane concept?
I request the authorities kindly to look into the matter and sort out with something conclusive.
Yours,
Khongsit
Itanagar