Manchala Santhosh Kumar, PS Sangwan and Rayapati Karthik

Heavy metals make up to an important class of pollutants in the environment. For they do not degrade, heavy metals undergo accumulation and bio-magnifications in the environment and often regarded as chemical time-bomb. Roadside soil is a definite indicator of vehicular pollution from where the high degree of contamination, is expected. Contamination of roadside soil and farmland with heavy metals due to traffic activities is an environmental hazard causing pollution, thereby affecting the eco-system. The risk posed by heavy metals to food safety and the environment is of great concern to governments and society in many countries. Heavy metal pollution in agricultural soil is becoming serious with rapid industrialization and urbanization in developing countries and it is also influenced by the continuous increase in traffic of vehicles on the highways as observed in the soils across NH-4. The cumulative contamination effect of long-term exposure to traffic activities cannot be neglected, more importantly the road-side farmland soil, which is associated with the food chain and public health. Today, Indian cities are considered as some of the most polluted in the world and the single most important factor responsible is the ever increasing number of automobiles. Very few studies have been carried out in India and reports on heavy metal pollution in plants are extremely scarce. This article reviews the work done on heavy metal concentrations in roadside soils in India.

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