New Delhi: Several industrial towns of the state are now getting engulfed with the toxic particulate matters putting the health of the citizens at greater risk, suggests a recent report from the ministry of the Environment and Forests.
According to a written statement submitted by the Union Minister of Environment and Forests Harsh Vardhan in the Lok Sabha Friday, several cities in Orissa, specially the industrial towns, had in 2016 crossed the standard permissible amount of particulate matters as mandated under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards notification.
The report claims that levels of particulate matter 10 (PM10) are higher in many towns of Orissa against the standard limit of 60 ?g/m3. Those towns included Kalinga Nagar, with average PM10 concentration at 113 ?g/m3, Paradeep (11), Talcher (105) and Bhubaneswar (105).
The cities where the PM 2.5 levels were higher against the set standard of 40 ?g/m3 included-Talcher (51), Sambalpur (51), Paradip (41), Jharsuguda (48) and Kalinga Nagar (46). However, the magnitude of higher levels of PM 2.5 levels seems be more alarming for Orissa.
According to another statement put forth by the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Mahesh Sharma Friday, seven cities from Orissa are among the 31 Indian cities which had more than the permissible amount of PM2.5 particles.
“Most of these areas where the particulate matters are higher are industrial areas and often are areas where ore-based industries are based which aggravate the issues. The authorities concerned have failed to counter the escalating population by taking timely actions to counter the air pollution,” Sankar Prasad Pani, lawyer at the National Green Tribunal told Orissa POST.
PNN
