To mark the World Environment day on June 5, a 22-year-old filmmaker has made a film to highlight the often neglected issue of indoor air quality (IAQ).
According to environmental studies, indoor air pollution is the second biggest killer in India, killing more than 1.3 million Indians every year, responsible for almost 1/3rd of under-five infant mortality, affecting 80 per cent of women and 67 per cent of the country’s population. Filmmaker Anand Kulkarni said, “There are no provisions for monitoring the air that we breathe in our household and offices. It is one of the points that we stress on in our film.”
The film highlights some of the case studies including that of the Reserve Bank of India building and the stock exchange building. Elaborating the case studies, Mr Kulkarni said, “The employees in one of the floors of the RBI building complained of suffocation for a long time. To address the issues, the existing 6,000 tonnes of air conditioning was increased to 9,000, but the problems persisted. Later, the National Environmental Engineering Institute found out that the dampner of the air conditioners were unable to pull fresh air, which led to release of a certain kind of gas, which was causing the discomfort.”
The film also features actor Naseeruddin Shah, who did not charge a penny from the filmmaker.