Dust & Fog
By Dr. Sashi Sekhar Samanta |
Bhubaneswar was once known as a calm, breathable city—planned, green, and livable. Today, it is increasingly wrapped in dust by day and fog-like smog by night, blurring the line between natural weather and man-made pollution. What was earlier dismissed as “seasonal haze” has now become a persistent environmental warning. For many residents, breathing in Bhubaneswar no longer feels safe.
The uncomfortable truth is this: Bhubaneswar is slowly turning into a poisonous city, and denial will only accelerate the damage.
Dust Is No Longer Temporary—It Is Structural The dominant pollutant in Bhubaneswar today is dust—from construction sites, unpaved roads, flyovers, real estate projects, and unchecked urban expansion. Every major road widening or “smart city” project has left behind layers of fine particulate matter that hang in the air long after construction ends.
Unlike smoke, dust is deceptive. It settles silently into lungs, homes, and water sources. Children, elderly citizens, and people with respiratory issues are paying the first price—through rising asthma, allergies, eye infections, and chronic coughs. Dust is not a side-effect of development. It is a failure of regulation.
Fog or Smog? The Dangerous Confusion What Bhubaneswar increasingly experiences in winter mornings and late evenings is not natural fog alone. It is a toxic mix of dust, vehicular emissions, construction particles, and moisture—effectively urban smog. The danger lies in perception. Fog feels harmless; smog is alarming. By continuing to call it fog, we underestimate the health risk and delay urgent action. Air quality data, when available, already shows frequent spikes in particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). Yet public warnings, advisories, and emergency responses remain minimal. A city that cannot clearly name its pollution cannot fight it.
Vehicles, Construction, and Governance Gaps Three major contributors dominate Bhubaneswar’s air crisis: Unregulated Construction . Most construction sites operate without proper dust barriers, water sprinkling, or waste management. Rules exist—but enforcement is weak.
Rising Vehicular Load With inadequate public transport expansion, private vehicles dominate. Older vehicles, traffic congestion, and poor fuel standards worsen emissions.
Shrinking Green Cover Trees are cut faster than they are replaced. Urban forests and water bodies are sacrificed for concrete, reducing the city’s natural air filters. The issue is not lack of policy—it is lack of seriousness.
Health Is Becoming a Class Issue Air pollution does not affect everyone equally. Those who can afford air purifiers, private healthcare, and gated living escape the worst effects. The poor—street vendors, construction workers, traffic police, slum residents—inhale the city’s toxins daily without protection. This makes air pollution not just an environmental issue, but a social justice issue. A city that poisons its most vulnerable cannot call itself developed.
What the Government Must Do—Immediately Cosmetic measures and symbolic campaigns will not clean Bhubaneswar’s air. The government—both municipal and state—must move from reactive to preventive action. 1. Enforce Dust Control Laws Strictly Construction permissions must be tied to compliance: covered sites, mandatory sprinkling, penalties for violations, and project suspension for repeat offenders. 2. Real-Time Air Quality Transparency Air quality monitoring stations must be expanded, data made public, and health advisories issued proactively. 3. Green Infrastructure, Not Just Flyovers Urban forests, roadside plantations, and protected green buffers must be prioritised over endless concrete expansion. 4. Public Transport as Pollution Control Affordable, efficient buses and non-motorised transport lanes are not conveniences—they are environmental necessities. 5. Accountability of Urban Agencies Smart City authorities, municipal bodies, and development agencies must be held answerable for environmental outcomes, not just project completion.
Citizen Responsibility Matters—but Cannot Replace Governance Citizens must reduce waste burning, limit vehicle use, and demand cleaner practices. But the burden cannot be shifted entirely to individuals. Air pollution is a governance failure before it is a citizen failure.
A City at a Crossroads Bhubaneswar still has time. It is not yet Delhi. But every year of inaction pushes it closer to that fate. Dust and fog are warning signs—not inevitabilities. A city that was planned can still be corrected. But that requires political will, administrative courage, and public pressure.
Clean air is not a luxury. It is a fundamental right.
If Bhubaneswar continues to ignore its poisoned breath, development will mean little—because progress is meaningless in a city where breathing itself becomes a risk.
