Vertical Gardens helped Mexico reduce pollution, can Hyd take to it?

Secunderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipality Corporation (GHMC) recently set up vertical gardens at six U-turns starting from Secunderabad to Panjagutta replicating the vertical gardens in Mexico. According to GHMC officials, the gardens helped reduce pollution levels in Mexico and the civic body would be setting up the vertical gardens to reduce pollution levels. 

The gardens were set up at U turns as there is a lot of traffic at these places. Scientists and officials at the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) say that there is no guarantee that the pollution levels would reduce. The Air Quality Index is 121 at the road stretch from Paradise to Panjagutta and the value gets fluctuated in a day but the amount of pollutants increase during peak hours. The report says quality of air is moderate which causes discomfort in breathing especially with people having lung and heart disease.

The GHMC has come up with the concept of the vertical gardens after analyzing the statistical change in pollution levels that have reduced at Mexico when established such garden on the flyover pillars. The officials of Telangana State Pollution Control Board says, it takes at least a year to find any difference in pollution levels with the placement of vertical gardens. However, there would not be a major drop in the amount of pollutants in air because of the increasing vehicular pollution day by day.

“We cannot compare Hyderabad with Mexico, here the population is huge and hence vehicular pollution is high, these vertical gardens at few places cannot alter the pollution levels in the city. Both the GHMC and HMDA should make efforts to increase the lung spaces in the city that will increase oxygen levels. Especially, as many as slums in Hyderabad that includes Musheerabad, Adikmet, Jamia Osmania, Seethaphalmandi, has no green spaces,” said Prof K Purushotham Reddy, environmentalist.

On the other hand, the GHMC is not planning to establish such vertical gardens to all the vertical flyover pillars. “Its maintenance is a challenge and due to fund crunch it is not possible to turn all the pillars to green,” said Rama Mohan, deputy director of Urban Biodiversity wing, GHMC.

BY Sushma Nagaraju