Varanasi is, perhaps, one of the most critical constituencies in the Lok Sabha polls. It is, after all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bastion. Varanasi also happens to be terribly polluted and as per information acquired under the RTI Act, has only one air quality monitoring station.
As per a report in The Hindu, the city was ranked as among the top three most polluted cities in the world three years ago. Per the Central Pollution Control Board’s 2015 dataset (made public in 2016), Varanasi’s air quality was among the most toxic in the country, and despite that, it had only one air quality monitor capable of measuring particulate matter 2.5 and particulate matter ten levels. The RTI query was filed by “Let Me Breathe“, a portal that investigates how people cope with poor air quality.
The report further added that out of 227 days measured in 2015, the city had zero “good-air” days thanks to the massive levels of industrial pollution, biomass burning, vehicular emissions, brick kilns and diesel generator. While the average air quality for PM 2.5 from 2017-2019 had improved to 104 from 206 in 2016, reported The Hindu, the maximum PM levels breached continued to be above 200, or in the “very poor” category.
Tamseel Hussain, the founder of “Let Me Breathe“, told the daily, “Varanasi is one of the most polluted cities on the planet. Still, there is only one monitoring station. While in the last few years the government has done amazing work on the beautification of the city and solar, it’s time to make air pollution a serious priority as well.”
The RTI query provided no data on the number of violations and the steps taken to reprimand offenders in the city, undertaken by the municipal corporation.