Air pollution has been a major threat all over the world and India shelters four out of the ten most polluted cities in the world. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is measured by the amount of particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic meter of air. As per the data provided by the WHO, 7 million premature deaths occur every year due to air pollution and 3 million deaths due to outdoor air quality.
India and China are the two major countries to record the maximum number of deaths due to air pollution.
After the success of the plant set up in Ahmedabad to to fight against the extreme heat in the city, it launches another project and the first of its kind to depict the air pollution and make people aware of it. An air monitoring and warning system is installed in the city. The Air Information and Response (AIR) was launched in May, this systems records the air quality measures daily pollution levels in eight locations. The people are warned about the polltion through five color-coded alerts of the levels, and their related effects, displayed on huge LED screens set up across the city. It also warns the people when the pollution is likely to reach the level of ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’.
Chirag Shah, a deputy health officer at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said that air pollution is major risk for the human kind and it can be controlled only if proper data is collected. He also added that just by collecting the data does not solve the problem, investment needs to be done and measures needs to be taken to curb the problem.
Dileep Mavalankar, head of the Indian Institute of Public Health also seconded the opinion of Chirag shah. He was also a part of the AIR plan as well as the Heat Action Plan.
The main cause for the air pollution according to BJP party President Amit Shah, is diesel-fueled vehicles, construction, cooking fires and the burning of trash. He said that few activites could be stopped in order to control the growing danger with increase in air pollution.
Air pollution can cause lung cancer, strokes and heart disease over the long term and sometimes even be the reason for a sudden heart attack.