Pollution in air leaves city traffic police breathless

Even a glass of fresh lime water proved too costly for the Kolkata Traffic department. Its men, who spend almost 10 hours a day raising Rs ...

Even a glass of fresh lime water proved too costly for the Kolkata Traffic department. Its men, who spend almost 10 hours a day raising Rs 6 crore a year for the state’s coffers, no longer get their token refreshment.

A recent NGO survey through pulmonary function test conducted on over 400 Home Guards, who work with the traffic police, showed almost half of them suffered from bronchial diseases of varying intensity.

The Allergy & Asthma Research Centre said most of the cases were in the worst polluted points — Sealdha, Mahatma Gandhi Road, B.B.D. Bagh and Rabirasadan. Sources in state Ministry of Civil Defence confirmed 3.2 per cent have tuberculosis.

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Angry traffic policemen, who work without basic anti-pollution devices, ask why even a fraction of the revenue they generate is not used for their welfare.

A senior traffic official says: ‘‘The government can easily hand over 10 per cent of the revenue to help us provide masks and fresh lime water after duty hours. But not a penny has come.’’

Environmentalist Chiro Dutta says a report on the hazards the policemen face from pollution was submitted to the state four years ago. ‘‘Exposure to high SPM can cause skin irritation to even blood cancer,’’ he says.

A Traffic Police review shows air quality is worse than in many cities and the national average. For instance, the SPM level (ug/m3) is 354. The national average is 200.

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Says DCP Traffic M.K. Singh, ‘‘We plan to provide them with facilities for inhaling fresh oxygen at intervals.’’

Says a senior official in the Traffic department, ‘‘Singh’s optimism fades when one considers the fate of government plans. A plan to phase out 15-year-old buses and cars is hanging.’’