Pollution Scare: Twin cities of Telangana ranked among the NO2 emissions hotspots

HYDERABAD: On Monday the environmental watchdog Greenpeace after analysing a new satellite data, said that parts of Secunderabad and Hyderabad, Ramagundam, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam belonging to the two Telugu states are among the global hotspots for NO2 emissions. 

As the toxic clouds over the twin cities are due to vehicular pollution, in Vijayawada and Vizag it is also because of vehicular pollution and presence of thermal plants while in Ramagundam it is due to thermal plants alone.

NO2 is a dangerous pollutant that has its effects on human health. The satellite data was collected from European Space Agency's Sentinel 5P satellite which was recorded between June and August 2018. Coal and vehicular emissions were identified as the two principal sources of NO2.

Delhi, Odisha and the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh region are ranked among the top 50 global hotspots for NO2 emissions. Ramagundam in Telangana has a Red Spot because of its highest level of NO2 thickness which has been measured in Dobson units because of the presence of thermal plants.