Residents of Karaganda have been avoiding evening walks for several days now — after sunset, thick smog blankets the city until morning. Locals complain of a pungent smell and a bitter taste in their mouths. Many note that airing out their flats has become hazardous to health.
According to Inbusiness.kz, the Department of Ecology for the Karaganda Region reported that the increase in pollution levels is linked to weather conditions.
Specialists say that a lack of wind prevents the smoke from dispersing, while the private sector continues to use stove heating. The situation is also affected by cars, the number of which in the city grows every year.
Meanwhile, ecologist Dmitry Kalmykov states that the air quality in the city is worsening annually.
"Every year it gets worse, and it will get even worse from here. I'm talking about the air quality in Karaganda. And you don't need any devices for that, you don't need to look at the Kazhydromet website, which shows how many pollutants exceed the permissible limits. You can see and understand everything with your nose and eyes," notes the ecologist.
At the same time, authorities link part of the problem to the pace of gasification. According to the head of the department of energy and housing and communal services, Kuanyush Adai, a significant number of houses remain without a gas connection, even though the mains have been brought in.
"More than 8,500 individual residential houses have been connected to the gas pipeline network today. Of these, technical conditions were issued to over 6,400 houses. And 4,300 houses have been connected. Yes, there is a difference. We brought the supply to the houses, but some people still haven't connected," he noted.
According to the department, the gasification of the region is not planned to be completed before 2036. In total, around 30 thousand houses should be connected. In the current year, nearly 15 billion tenge was allocated for gasification, but this funding was not enough for everyone. Residents of Saran, the villages of Dubovka and Aktas report that they have been waiting for a connection for five years now.