Pollution Board rebutts WHO report mentioning Srinagar in world’s most polluted cities

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir State Pollution Control Board (J&KSPCB) on Friday refuted media reports suggesting that Srinagar was the tenth polluted city in the world.
“J&K SPCB has rebutted the report published by the WHO by making it clear that no such data has been forwarded to the WHO. J&K SPCB further states that the monitoring of PM 2.5 which is a key pollution indicator has been started by the Board in July 2017 only whereas the WHO study quotes the period from 2010 to 2016,” said a spokesman, in a statement Friday.
Reports quoting from a study of the World Health Organisation (WHO) had claimed that Srinagar was the tenth most polluted city in the world per its air quality index with PM 2.5 depicted as 113 µg/m3.
“It is pertinent to mention that the source of primary data on which the WHO has based its report has been quoted as “the respective governments”,” said the spokesman.
“The Board applies a very robust sampling methodology and intensity including establishment of five permanent air quality monitoring stations in Srinagar city viz. Rajbagh, Hyderpora, Boulevard, Jahangir Chowk and Soura, wherein data is collected twice a week throughout the year. As per the Board, the levels of PM 2.5 are well within the permissible limit of 60 µg/m3 (for 24 hours),” he said.
He said the Board couldn’t verify the veracity of the report published by the WHO for two reasons.
“…firstly, the period of the study is 2010 to 2016 when the Board was not carrying out the monitoring of PM 2.5. Secondly, the sampling methodology as well as the sampling intensity/frequency and location is not known to the Board.”
The Board, according to the spokesman, concluded that the air quality of Srinagar city is far better than as depicted in the WHO report. He said there is no cause of alarm or distress as the levels of PM 2.5 are well within the permissible limits of 60 µg/m3.