With Kolkata’s Rabindra Sarovar ruled out with effect from this year as a venue for Chhat puja, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority has reportedly identified ten alternate waterbodies for the annual ritual. While the compulsion to check pollution in and around the Lakes is to be welcomed by the citizenry, it is cause for concern that the city’s air quality index (AIQ) has soared to the 200-mark on Monday, a week before Diwali when it is bound to go up further with the firing of crackers, despite the curbs imposed by the National Green Tribunal and the Pollution Control Board.

Regretfully, the air will be decidedly noxious from next Sunday. It isn’t Kolkata alone that will suffer; the environmental menace has been aggravated by the stubble-burning in rural Bengal, once again at this time of the year. Just as fog and filthy air pollutes the environment in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab on account of the practice. The automatic air quality monitoring units of the PCB at Fort William and Victoria Memorial have recorded the average AQIs at 241 and 214 respectively. The average in Ballygunge is around the 300-mark, however. Ironically enough, as the weather becomes relatively pleasant with the temperature declining, the “temperature inversion”, socalled, has left pollutants hanging low in the atmosphere.

Advertisement

Should the air quality index exceed 100, fears of an aggravation of breathing difficulties along with heart and lung diseases are real. It is, therefore, a dual threat to public health ~ the noxious fumes on Diwali night and PM 2.5 particles. Notably, AQI in Kolkata is driven by Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5), that can trickle down straight to the blood stream. The phenomenon is in part embedded in agricultural methods. Farmers in Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, and North 24-Parganas burn stubble after harvesting. And the practice is now fairly endemic.

The emission from the neighbouring districts pollutes the city by the sweeping wind. A notification has been issued by the environment department, whose officials have come across stubble burning in the farming areas. Perhaps it is time for the police to be activated across West Bengal. In parallel, an awareness drive must be initiated amongst the peasantry. Not many farmers may be aware of the damage that the almost ritualistic stubble burning can cause. It boils down to an issue relating to climate change and environment in West Bengal.

And Rabindra Sarovar is not the only point of origin. The city ought to pay heed to the Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg’s caveat on climate change. And this applies equally to pollution during Chhat puja and the firing of crackers on the night of Diwali.