Two decades ago, Besant Nagar’s Blue Cross Road used to be thick with smog early on Bhogi morning. Visibility at 7 a.m. used to be just a few feet.
“I remember going to Veedhi Bhajan with my father on Bhogi day. We used to leave by 5.30 a.m. and driving used to be impossible. But over the years, things have improved,” said Shyamala Krishnan, a resident of Besant Nagar.
Her anecdotal account is also borne out by facts. Data over the last five years indicate that a gradual fall in level increases of Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) on Bhogi day occurred in five out of eight chosen monitoring stations in the city.
In T. Nagar, Virugambakkam, Meenambakkam, Besant Nagar and Sholinganallur, the RSPM increases showed a definite drop over these five years.
Every Bhogi, the RSPM levels go up due to the rituals followed, but in the recent years the level of increase has been coming down.
Smog, a portmanteau of smoke and fog, is created every Bhogi when the traditional ritualistic burning of old stuff to symbolise throwing out the old and ushering in new beginnings.
In its more extreme form, the smoke along with the fog reduces visibility substantially, and leads to diversion of flights.
In Chennai, the usual practice is to burn plastic, tyres and tubes, which leads to high levels of pollution in the ambient air.
However, through continuous intervention, things have changed for the better in urban areas, where plastic and rubber are seldom burnt. Incremental pollution levels have thus dropped in most of the areas.
A former senior official of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) recalled how they had been creating awareness since the 2000s. “During 2008 - 2009, we began having night squads involving Corporation employees and the police. We used to carry buckets of water and sand to put out fires. People then realised that if they burn tyres and plastics through the night, we would be on the prowl. Now, they just burn dry green waste and paper if need be, to carry on tradition,” he said, adding that even the Corporation, EB and the telephone staff have stopped burning tyres, which they use to melt tar for repairs.
The number of stations recording pollution levels across the city too has gone up. In 2009, there were 10 stations, now there are 15. Sources in TNPCB said that their staff were out on the streets on Thursday night, surveying pollution levels to get a fix on the pre-burning data.
Normally, levels of respirable suspended particulate matter, sulphur-di-oxide and nitrogen-di-oxide are recorded pre- and post-Bhogi.
