Reading practice - Essay about polution in Chennai

III. Did you know?

Chennai’s vehicular population touches 11,51,626 of which there are over 8.5 lakh two wheelers alone. The tailpipes of all these spew out 1450 tons of pollutants comprising Particulate Matter, Respirable Dust Particles, Nitrogen Oxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Lead.

Read the following news item:

Hazardous pollutants envelop T.Nagar By Our Special Correspondent CHENNAI July 15. Two of the deadly pollutants breathed in by residents in some city areas were more than twice the permitted limit through a full year, studies of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) reveal.

Respirable Dust Particles (RDP) and Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM), both linked to serious health problems, were way above the limit in Thyagaraya Nagar, an area facing rising congestion.

Kilpauk and Vallalar Nagar also encountered very high levels of the two pollutants, while Anna Nagar followed next.

Task 1: Answer the following questions:

1. What do the news item, ‘Did you know?’ snippet and the table
convey?
2. What are the probable solutions to this problem?
(a) banning all vehicles
(b) wearing masks
(c) evacuating Chennai
(d) any other (please specify)


Task 2:Read news items / articles on dumping of toxic wastes, oil slicks, air / noise / water pollution, etc., from newspapers / magazines. Analyse what you could do, on your part, to solve these problems.