Air Pollution in Kochi, how safe are we
Kerala Police have a target particularly in Kochi to book maximum two wheelers who do not follow the ordinance viz-a-viz traffic. No helmets, seat belts, Helmet straps etc are the offenses. The Police is least bothered to pull people who park their vehicle on the road, those who violate no entry and over speed. So as part of this drive, the other day the ever-efficient Kerala police stopped one of my friends. He has his helmet in place, the straps were tightened and his vehicle in good condition. They went through his papers and found everything to be in order. So now they have to let him go, and oh my God, they were running short of 5 more offenders to square that day’s target. Luckily for them they saw a paper missing in that lot; that was the PUC (Pollution Under Control) thing. What next? he has to pay the fine for not having that certificate, which signifies that he is contributing to the already polluted air of Kochi
Kochi is one city that has more vehicles than roads. A study in the past had already shown that various parts of the city were found having a high amount of polluted air. The pollutant emission levels in Kochi have gone up substantially. The unhealthy air owing to the fast growth in vehicle is not at par with the infrastructure.
The AQI (Air Quality Index) in the range of 51-100 is considered moderate and Kochi is touching 151-200 which means it’s unhealthy air around. So I was wondering what kind of pollution control are the authorities looking at. The public transport emits 90 percent of Carbon monoxide right under their very nose. But nothing much is done to check them, all they do is for the sake of it.
With many ill-maintained government buses emitting deadly smoke and with no proper inspection, use of adulterated fuel, poor road conditions and bumper-to-bumper driving, the situation is more likely to worsen. When are we going to wake up to this disturbing fact, before we all fail to wake up one fine morning.