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Metros mock at pollution norms
Source: The Pioneer , New Delhi, Date: , 2009
Increasing levels of air and water pollution continue to ring alarm
bells for India. If the air quality in 85 Indian cities has deteriorated
further in the last one year, the pollution load has increased on 139
different stretches of 37 major rivers in the last few years. But then,
nearly 37,000 industries continue dishing out hazardous waste of about
6.2 million tonne annually. “The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter
(RSPM) levels exceeded the prescribed norms in 86 of the 126 cities
monitored by the Central and State Pollution Control Boards and
Pollution Control Committee during 2008,” Environment and Forests
Minister Jairam Ramesh had informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The
extent of the increase, however, wasn’t elaborated. Increase in RSPM
level leads to respiratory disorders like asthma. While the acceptable
standard of RSPM is 60 micrograms per cubic metre (mg/cu m) annually,
many cities including metros like Delhi (149 mg/cu m), Mumbai (118 mg/cu
m) and Kolkata (104 mg/cu m) stand beyond the prescribed norms as per
the CPCB’s study between January-August last year. Vehicular movement,
industrialisation, burning of fuel in kitchen and operation of DG sets
are the reasons behind it, he said adding that the levels of sulphur
dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, however, remained within the prescribed
norms. Air pollution apart, according to water quality monitoring by the
CPCB, 139 stretches of 37 rivers across 20 States including Ganga,
Yamuna, Damodar, Subarnarekha and Ghaggar have seen an increase in their
pollution load — with the most stretches lying on Yamuna between Delhi,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.The alarming scenario
notwithstanding, as many as 36,165 hazardous waste generating industries
in the country generate about 6.2 million tonne of hazardous waste
annually. “Of the 6.2 MT hazardous waste, 2.7 MT is land-fillable, 0.041
MT incinerable and 3.08 MT recyclable,” Jairam Ramesh maintained.
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