Metro work raising dusty hell

AHMEDABAD: If you want to experience Ahmedabad’s dust menace in its worst form, try taking the Janatanagar-Vastral route. Every evening during rush hour, a thick blanket of dust floats a few metres above the ground. This is largely due to the dust kicked up by passing vehicles, and the digging work under way for the Metro construction nearby.
Residents, commercial establishments and even hawkers have a hard time surviving here.Windows are closed and ever cherry red vehicles turn off-white. By the time you cross the road, your hair and your face is laden with a fine dust powder. For the last two days, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has been forced to sprinkle water to settle the dust, because of repeated complaints. “We were tired of this dust. It gets into our home. My daughter Aradhana is allergic and this is a nightmare for us. She has been sent to my brothers’ place in Paldi for five months, till the construction work is completed,” says Vrunda Yagnik, a resident of Anmol Society on the stretch.
P Sandeep, a researcher at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), who presented his paper on the nature and source of particulate pollution at the 16th Indian Aerosol Science and Technology Association (IASTA) conference at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) on Wednesday, explained that most particulate matter was crustal material. “The elemental profiles of dust particulate matter I studied in Mumbai consisted of aluminium, calcium, silica, iron, and titanium particles. The second major contributor is coal and biomass burning, followed by road traffic,” says Sandeep.