--
“The more we
pollute the earth, the less we deserve to live on earth!”
―
Climate change and air pollution know no borders, and antibiotics resistance respects no boundaries. Bacteria from Africa can make people in America sick. The burning of Indonesian forests can keep Asia gasping for breath.
--Rohini Nilekani
I have already written on this subject & has decided (like millions of other countrymen) not to write on it again as nothing will change but sometimes I feel like King Vikram who despite knowing that he isn’t going to succeed in conquering the might Vetal (plz google about Vikram & Vetal, if you are that dump or busy not to know about these two characters’) yet keep on carrying him on his shoulders & the story went on for ages, at-last from my childhood its still going! Though barring the efforts of writing nothing is common between me & Kin Vetal as after all he was a great king & in his kingdom his word was final which is not the case with me, yet the determination keeps me dragging (read as frustration) & here we are! And then it was a pleasant surprise when I get an invite by PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) for a meeting about air pollution which is trigger point for this sharing! The meeting was about setting up measuring air pollution index at construction sites & reason is the authorities (on basis of reports) thinks ongoing construction sites are one of the main causes of increased air pollution in the city. Though that is not totally wrong but I will comment on that aspect later, first let’s focus on the meeting. There were PMC authorities & representees of developers as well many people from Air Sensor manufacturers. The subject was fixing these pollution measuring instruments at ongoing construction sites to keep a check on air quality index. It's good thought & not at all a new thing as in developed countries this is a standard practice! We went through the presentations & the meeting was concluded with acceptance of the problem as well as forming a task force for the same which will study the subject in depth & submit a report for further line of action. I said I will send my suggestion about the same & here they are… (few things may seem a bit too technical but so is the subject).
1.Define categories of the buildings not on sq ft but on layout of the project.
2.Make zones of the city pertaining to existing pollution levels i.e. pollution index before the project starts as unless that’s known how we can decide whether the project has added in pollution & how much. For e.g. if a project is coming right at Nal Stop karve road then there already the air quality is poor because of the exhausts of millions of vehicles while if a building is coming up in suburbs where air is yet normal, so these two projects must be treated separately.
3.Air Pollution depends on stages of construction also as in early stages where there is excavation or demolition of existing buildings, generation of dust is more which is medium while casting of slab & practically nil when just shuttering work is going on. In all such stages if by just going via few days readings we may not know the real situation, in nutshell we will have to formulate the system for deciding parameters of the readings we get as per the stages of construction.
4.Air pollution is a tricky thing & it depends a lot on wind conditions as if the winds push one location dust particle away then the same winds can carry the pollutants to a certain location which can be our project’s site. This aspect we must keep in mind. Same is applicable with the season’s effect of readings as in summer air is lighter & air index is better as hot air gets lighter & pushes the dust up in sky while in winter air gets heavy & exactly reverse effects happens making air near to ground polluted.
5.As well when construction material such as sand or khadi or cement is being unloaded or being moved with the site again these materials have got fine particles of dust & the index may go high very temporarily. At the same time is a multi-storeyed building pollution levels can change as per the activities floor wise as if tiling/ internal plaster is going on some floors there the air will have more suspended particles while other floors where these activities are complete will show minimum & no pollution.
6.The quality or say type of air pollution also is important as site construction site there are no hazardous chemical superfine particles but dust mostly & it settles down with time unlike chemical particles which lingers in air for a lot more time as well travels a long distance with air.
7.We haven’t thought about the present measures we are using which makes the dust generated by the project work remain in the premise of the project which can give wrong results of air quality within the project.
8.Remedial measures vs effect on air quality is also something we need to take in to account as right from basking the entire external surface to sprinklers are not good practises for the health of the site staff especially when project is located on heavy traffic roads & led particles as well carbon monoxide levels are already high around the project site.
9.LED ScreenDisplay outside the project of mentioning air quality at project site can lead to serious misunderstanding among common people who don't know the technicalities of the subject & create nuisance value for the project as well for PMC & local authorities.
10. We must take in consideration adjoining project work status as well as stages as there can be conflicting readings because of overlapping activities, even because of projects in surroundings depending on season/ weather/ wind direction.
11.We must have proper anti air pollution measures designed as well executed at site as per all these situations & stages as well have a policy about which readings will be leading to what course of action & then only start the measuring of the air pollution index. And this task force committee must be in place forever to take cognizance of any complaint before acting on Suo Moto on the ongoing project!
Now, these are my suggestions & sure there may be many more or a few as the subject is multidimensional, so let’s focus on the actual aspect of air pollution & role of construction industry in it! In Pune as we all know there are nearly half million (sure more) vehicles & even if fifty percent of them are on road at any given hour, then the exhaust through their engines is a major contributor to the air pollution & what we are going to do about it? At the same time barring Diwali baring fire crackers is the latest fashion & these new types of fire crackers which go high up in air & create beautiful fireworks also generates loads of smoke i.e. again air pollution. And I am sure one such fire cracker is worth unloading ten or more dust trucks, so much smoke is created & again the dust at construction site is not hazardous as its mostly from natural material (except cement) but smoke for exhausts of vehicles & fire crackers is lot more deadly is a fact which a kid also knows & what are we going to do about it, is my question?
The problem of being a builder is, when the subject is like air pollution then if you mention other factors such as private vehicles’ exhausts & fire crackers then immediately you are tagged as saving your skin or hiding your faults by pointing fingers at others but that doesn’t change the facts, right? I am not justifying air pollution by construction works, what I am saying is, unlike vehicles or fire crackers which are here all year along & forever, air pollution at sites is temporary as once the building is complete it won’t pollute our air; so just keep this aspect while keeping a check on air pollution index at construction sites! And going by the attitude of authorities (read as Govt) towards real estate, all facts are neglected when there is any trouble & the first action with slightest of wrong things (here readings of air quality index) is, shut down the site! This is why we need to make a policy which will cover all loose ends as well as facts about construction sites, is the reason for my sharing! At the same time, even going as per the reports, construction sites are only 20 % or such a contributor to the air pollution of the city & as the work completes the stop polluting air is a fact. As well as these sites which also plants trees which is the only yes only real air cleaner we can have, so unless we don’t complete the buildings, we won’t be having new plantations too, this aspect of real estate also we have to keep in mind. To conclude I will only say this, whatever we create on this earth which is not natural is bound to pollute not just air but every natural resource is a fact we can’t deny but we all are jointly responsible for creation of every such thing, let’s keep that in mind & fight (read as make policies) together or any such policy will be on paper just to save every entity but nature, adios with this warning!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
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https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
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