City coughs, sputters, as Bhogi fires burn; 4 stations record poor air quality

Residents in various parts of the city experienced difficulty due to the lighting of bonfires for Bhogi on Wednesday.

Rani, a resident of Kannagi Nagar said she woke up by 4.30 a.m. and saw many bonfires. “I didn’t want to start a new one so added a piece of old cloth to the one closest to my home. The smoke was thick till about 7 a.m.,” she said.

Chitradevi, a resident of Kandanchavadi, said that when she opened the door at 6.30 a.m., the smoke from the corridor entered her home. “I found it difficult to breathe. My eyes were watery,” she said.

TNPCB data showed that in the 24 hours ending 8 a.m. on Tuesday, four stations out of 15, registered poor air quality. Tondiarpet had an air quality index (AQI) value of 267, Royapuram, 243, Valasaravakkam, 207, and Thoraipakkam, 273. Tiruvottiyur had the cleanest air in the city with an AQI of 140, perhaps due to people like P. Parthiban, an autorickshaw driver, who said his family did not have the habit of burning waste. “As we already pollute the air with vehicle emissions. Why should we add to it by burning waste?”

S.M. Shiva Nagendra, professor, IIT Madras, said that since burning of waste for Bhogi was a sentiment for many, places such as Singapore have systems for controlled burning of waste on such days in specific locations. “Chennai too should have community burning stations with controlled emissions at the ward level,” he added.