NOIDA: Sanjiv Goyal has been experiencing breathing difficulty for the past one week. But the IBM employee, who goes to the IT company’s

office, is not alone.

Pollution

has been taking a toll on many people who have their offices in the sector — Noida’s prime corporate destination.

Sector 62 is a hub for many technology companies, such as IBM, TCS,

,

and Ericsson. Symbiosis, IIM-Lucknow and several other private colleges also have their campuses in the sector. Moreover, the sector also hosts various central government offices and residential apartments.

But the sector is one of the most neglected spots in Noida, which directly reflects in its

quality. The reason — rampant garbage burning in the open and heavy vehicular movement. “Where our office is, adjacent to a park of Sector A, we see garbage being burnt continuously. There is no stop on that. Once the garbage mount grows, someone sets it on fire. Our complaints have so far fallen on deaf ears,” Sanjiv says.

Puneet Goyal, an employee at Finserv, a financial service provider in Sector 62, says pollution is a major issue. “I live in Sector 76 and work in Sector 62. I don’t get affected by the pollution as long as I stay inside office. But yes, the situation is bad outside,” he says.

The sector also suffers largely because of its location — the Khoda village area being next to it. Amit Gupta, who works for a company in Sector 62, says,“Sector 62 suffers for several reasons — the traffic movement is heavy and there are snarls which leads to pollution. Additionally the sector is very close to the Khoda village where garbage is burnt regularly.”

“Because the sector is a corporate hub, it has a lot of vehicular movement throughout the day. This is one reason the PM 2.5 count in the area is often high. There are construction activities taking place in close range, which impacts the PM 10 count,” says UPPCB regional officer Anil Singh.

Besides other problems, this year during Diwali, the sector was also chosen as a destination for cracker sales. “The cracker sale was held in the neighbourhood park in Sector D so people had more access to crackers in the area. It is a reason for local pollution too,” says Vikram Sethi, a businessman.