By Tricitynews
Chandigarh 04th
March:- A study released by the University of Chicago has found that
residents in Chandigarh maybe losing upto 5.9 years of their lives because of
breathing polluted air. AQLI or Air Quality Life Index, developed by the Energy
Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC India) had recently released
numbers on life expectancy being reduced in North India due to increasing air
pollution. An awareness workshop in this regard was conducted by EPIC India at
Panjab University in collaboration with the Department of Community Education
and Disability studies at the University, in the city on Tuesday. The workshop
was attended by T. C. Nautiyal, (IFS), CF, Department of Forests & Wildlife
cum, Member Secretary, Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee, amongst other distinguished
guests. The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), developed by EPIC, converts air
pollution concentrations into their impact on life expectancy and tells us how
much longer can we live if we breathe in clean air. From this, the public and
policymakers alike can determine the benefits of air pollution policies in
perhaps the most important measure that exists: longer lives.
Addressing participants on the occasion,
T. C. Nautiyal, said that ensuring clean air and environment is a collective
responsibility of the administration and citizens. The pollution control board
in Chandigarh has always believed in policies which are people centric and
encourage citizens to participate and work with us together as a team for our
city. Initiatives like AQLI are a good step in that process and there is a lot
that we can mutually benefit as a society from exchanging this information and
taking the right steps to ensure a healthy environment for the citizens of this
city.
Sharing his insights on the impact of
air pollution on human health, respiratory medicine specialist and renowned
pulmonologist from the city, Dr. Sanchit Wadhwa said that there is an obvious
change in the air quality of Chandigarh. The rise of respiratory related
illnesses has also seen an upward curve in the past few years. Rapid
urbanization, traffic emissions, people’s lifestyle and of course emissions
coming from districts surrounding the city do impact the citizens health
negatively.
Speaking on initiatives taken by Yuvsatta
in the city, Pramod Sharma, Founder of Yuvsatta, said that proactive citizens
are the backbone of any good society. Air pollution is one of the biggest
challenges we face, not just in Chandigarh, but world over. Yuvsatta has been
working on a lot of initiatives with aware citizens and young people. Platforms
like AQLI are a much needed help in that process. Today's workshop is just the
beginning of a positive people movement towards ensuring clean air for
Chandigarh and setting an example for the rest of India.
Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman
Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and Director of EPIC added that around
the world today, people are breathing air that represents a serious risk to
their health. But the way this risk is communicated is very often opaque and
confusing, translating air pollution concentrations into colors, like red,
brown, orange, and green. What those colors mean for people’s wellbeing has
always been unclear. My colleagues and I developed the AQLI, where the ‘L’
stands for ‘life,’ to address these shortcomings. It takes particulate air
pollution concentrations and converts them into perhaps the most important
metric that exists—life expectancy.” Data available on AQLI reveals that
citizens in Chandigarh can live upto 5.9 years more an average if particulate
concentrations in the state were at the level of 10 µg/m3 (10 mili-micrograms
per meter cube) which is deemed safe by the WHO. Apart from Chandigarh’s
increase in life expectancy, if WHO guidelines were met in neighboring states
of Punjab & Haryana which encircle the tiny city, citizens in those states
could live upto 5.7 years & 7.5 years longer, respectively.
Talking about how civil society &
the media can play an active role in helping highlight air pollution, senior
journalist Dinesh Goyal said that for a tiny city that we have, he don’t find
journalists in Chandigarh giving appropriate space for stories related to
critical issues like air pollution. We all know that the city has grown a lot
in the last few years and it’s only going to grow further. Environment issues
are going to be at the forefront & I feel that the city media should act as
active goalkeepers to ensure that issues like air pollution don’t slip past our
memory & keep finding the space in our newspapers and channels that it
rightly deserves. We have platforms like AQLI that are giving us critical
information. We need to be more proactive collectively as media.
