Air quality in Goa’s urban areas worsens in 2017-18

PANAJI

: High density of vehicles, inadequate monitoring system for checking vehicular

emission

and operation of condemnable vehicles is contributing to the deterioration of the air quality in the state’s major towns and cities, sources said.

The air quality index values compiled by Goa State Pollution Control Board for 2017-18 indicate that the air quality is no longer clean, as the state could boast of in the past few years.

Road safety activist, Dilip Naik attributes the reason for this to aged vehicles operating on Goa’s roads even after having crossed their lifespan of 15 years.

“Some of these vehicles have reached the condemnable stage, yet PUC certificates are granted to them. It is an open secret that PUC certificates are issued to some vehicles without inspection and the owners of such vehicles pass the fitness test by the RTO officials just based on external checks. Each RTO must also check the vehicle’s engine fitness and verify the PUC certificate. Violators must be heavily fined for flouting PUC norms,” he said.

For a population of nearly 15 lakh people, Goa has an approximately 13.2 lakh vehicles registered up to December 2017. This comes with an average of 72,000 vehicles registered every year. As opposed to this, there are approximately 50 existing PUC centres in the state.

“The health damage from emissions from diesel vehicles is about five times higher than petrol vehicles. Asthma patients are immediate sufferers,” said activist, Santosh Manjrekar.