Green activist calls for action on Kolkata’s night-time air pollution

Kolkata: Kolkata has been in the grip of air pollution, especially after the sunset. Therefore, green activist Suhash Datta asked the West Bengal government to take some steps urgently to overcome night-time air pollution in the city of joy. Several methods need to be implemented, such as deploying additional remote sensing devices (RSDs) at places like Vidyasagar Setu, Nivedita Setu, Dankuni toll plaza, and Dhulagarh toll plaza to control the pollution caused by goods vehicles that enter Kolkata at night.

Datta went on to say that combating pollution would be significant as far as improving Kolkata’s rankings among India’s leading cities in controlling air pollution. Several other cities in the state, like Howrah, Asansol, and so on, are facing similar sorts of issues. The state government should give proper attention to air pollution in order to stop the top cities of West Bengal from turning into gas chambers.

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Datta’s letter mentioned several court rulings, including a 2010 order from the Calcutta High Court, which called for the deployment of four RSDs in Kolkata, Howrah, North, and South 24 Parganas. In spite of the court’s order, by March 2024, only one RSD was working. Two more devices were installed in April 2024, but Datta argues that this measure is inadequate to deal with the pollution caused by heavy vehicles in several cities of West Bengal, including Kolkata.