It8217;s official 8212; Vadodara air is heavy with chemicals

VADODARA, June 9: While in Vadodara, wait to inhale. It's official now: With each intaken breath, one is vulnerable to an assault on the ...

VADODARA, June 9: While in Vadodara, wait to inhale. It8217;s official now: With each intaken breath, one is vulnerable to an assault on the respiratory tract and lungs. And the confirmation of what every Barodian has feared comes from none other than the Central Pollution Control Board.

Undertaken after a gap of several years, the CPCB survey found that apart from heavy vehicular pollution 8212; about five to 10 times the permissible limit, according to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board 8212; the city8217;s atmosphere is laden with industrial gases such as chlorine and ammonia.

According to CPCB chief S S Bala, the city was divided into six segments 8212; Subhanpura, Gotri, Kala Ghoda, Gorwa, Chhani and Sama 8212; for a two-month-long monitoring of the ambient air quality.

The implications are grave. Says V C Patel, president of the national body of the Indian Medical Association, 8220;Pollution directly affects human health. It calls for urgent intervention by environment monitoring agencies.8221;

Such gases, he says, hit the lungs, the respiratory system and the heart very badly, and trigger such diseases as asthma, bronchial ailments, allergies and fevers. 8220;The incidence of such diseases is double of what it was five years ago8221;, he warns.

Concurs SSG Hospital medical superintendent in-charge G N Shukla, 8220;The occurrence of these diseases, as well as cancer and sinus problems, has become quite common in the past couple of years. Atmospheric pollution is a major contributing factor.8221;

His colleagues corroborate the statement, maintaining that various departments, specially medicine, daily see at least a dozen patients 8212; against a couple in 1994 8212; whose history includes exposure to pollution. K G Patel Children8217;s Hospital officials also say they get at least a dozen patients of respiratory disorders every day.

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Industrial health expert Atul Gupta and several other doctors, including Mayank Bhatt and Rajesh Trivedi, also say they see double the number of patients with pollution-related problems now than they did a couple of years ago.

The complaints originate in cases like Chhani villager Nilesh Patel8217;s. 8220;It is like hell at times. Sometimes the stink is so intense we have to leave the village for an hour or so till the wind changes direction or the unknown industry stops its unknown operation8221;, he says.

Adds Gotri resident Madhvi Shah, 8220;Set aside water contamination, vehicular, air and noise pollution, what is more far more troublesome are the noxious fumes of industrial gases.8221;

If the outskirts are cursed by their proximity to the units, the walled city areas aren8217;t much better off, despite their distance from the industrial district. 8220;It is very irritating at times. Since I have a couple of doctor friends, I know we are exposed to all sorts of lung/eye diseases because of suspended particle matter and industrial gases in the atmosphere8221;, says Alpesh Shah, a Raopura-based entrepreneur.