Mayor Firhad Hakim has convened a meeting with the municipal corporations of Calcutta and Howrah on Monday to implement “restrictive measures” necessary for arresting the falling air quality in the city.

Hakim told Metro on Friday that officials of the Howrah Municipal Corporation were asked to attend the meeting because the adverse air quality across the Hooghly is impacting the air quality in Calcutta.

The Howrah civic body will be asked to implement certain measures, Hakim said.

He also expressed concern that vehicles emitting thick black smoke are still running in Calcutta.

The secretary of the state transport department, which is responsible for phasing out old polluting vehicles with police help, has been invited to the meeting.

The Kolkata Police commissioner is among the other invitees.

The Air Quality Report of Calcutta, published by the state pollution control board, between November 23 and November 29 showed that the air quality was “poor” on
four days and “moderate” on three days.

The Air Quality Report for Howrah during the corresponding period showed that the air quality was “very poor” on five days and “poor” on two days.

The report is an average of the air quality recorded in each of the monitoring stations in Howrah and Calcutta over 24 hours.

There are seven air continuous quality monitoring stations in Calcutta, including one in Bidhannagar.

Howrah has five air quality monitoring stations.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, the possible health impact of “very poor” air is “respiratory illness on prolonged exposure”. “Poor” air can result in “breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure”.

“We are sprinkling water on the roads to prevent resuspension of dust. However, I have noticed that the volume of dust emanating from construction sites is still very high. Besides, there are vehicles emitting black smoke,” Hakim said on Friday.

“We will discuss what can be done. We will seek help from experts,” he said.

A scientist working on air quality management said Howrah’s air quality impacts Calcutta during winter.

“The wind blows from west to east during winter. Calcutta is to the east of Howrah. If the air quality in Howrah is bad, it will impact Calcutta,” said Abhijit Chatterjee, a professor of environmental sciences at Bose Institute.

“With the onset of the winter season, it is evident from the records of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) installed within the KMC area that the air quality of Kolkata is below the satisfactory level. Hence, there is an urgent need to implement restrictive measures on an emergency basis to monitor and control the air pollution,” says the invite for the meeting.

Metro has read a copy of the invite.

A study conducted in 2017-18 found that vehicles contributed 25 per cent of PM2.5 in Calcutta’s air during winter, secondary aerosols contributed 32 per cent, wood combustion 15 per cent and coal burning 9 per cent.

In Howrah, vehicles accounted for 31 per cent of PM2.5, secondary aerosols
27 per cent, and wood and coal combustion 11 per cent each.

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute had done the source apportionment study for Calcutta and Howrah, the reports of which were submitted
in 2019.

The state pollution control board has hired The Energy and Resources Institute for a fresh study.

The report is expected next year.