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Rising air pollution in Baddi a cause for concern

Air quality of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt is deteriorating with each passing day, as little has been done to check the rising air pollution in the recent years.

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Ambika Sharma

Air quality of the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial belt is deteriorating with each passing day, as little has been done to check the rising air pollution in the recent years.

Smog envelops the area in the morning and evening and dust-laden air adversely affects the visibility on roads. The poor condition of roads, construction work and plying of thousands of vehicles in the area are key factors affecting the air quality in this industrial area.

What worries more is the fact that Baddi and Nalagarh also figure in the list of 102 non-attainment cities, enlisted by the Central Pollution Control Board. These cities have failed to adhere to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards prescribed under Section 16 (2) (h) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

Under the national ambient air quality monitoring programme, the air quality is assessed on four key parameters — sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, suspended particulate matter and fine particulate matter. Himachal has the fourth-highest number (seven) of such towns— Baddi, Damtal, Kala Amb, Nalagarh, Paonta Sahib, Parwanoo and Sunder Nagar — in the country.

Vehicular emissions, road dust, re-suspension of dust and other fugitive emissions, air pollution from bio-mass burning, industrial air pollution, pollution from construction and demolition activities, use of DG sets, use of coal in roadside restaurants are major source of pollution in these towns.

Even the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken note of the deteriorating air quality in these areas and it has directed Himachal along with other states to prepare appropriate action plans within two months to contain air pollution.

A similar exercise was earlier undertaken by the State Pollution Control Board, but despite preparation of an elaborate action plan for the BBN area, its implementation was dismal.

Various short, mid and long-term measures were recommended by the officials and departments including Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Development Authority, local Municipal Committees, PWD and Himachal Housing and Urban Development were also roped in to achieve ambient air quality levels.

Short-term measures included ensuring complete ban on biomass and garbage burning in the area, ensuring proper management of solid waste as per the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, with special stress on checking instance of fire in the waste storage areas before its scientific disposal.

Curbing encroachment by scrap dealers in a time-bound manner and shifting these to a designated site with requisite infrastructure has also been stressed upon. But not even an iota of the action plan has been translated into reality and the air pollution of this industrial belt continues to deteriorate with each passing day.

While the action plan also recommended ban on using husk-fired boilers in future and the existing industries were supposed to submit an action plan to phase out the use of husk-fired boilers and popularise the use of solar system instead of using DG sets etc, which contribute to air pollution, but these were confined to paper only.

With little provision to check vehicular emissions, the officials of the Transport Department were only monitoring vehicles as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, whereas as per the action plan, a slew of measures were supposed to be introduced including check on overloading and regular check of pollution certification among others.

Experts on job to mitigate the problem

Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board, Dr RK Pruthi, said: “Experts from IIT Kanpur have been assigned the task to prepare an elaborate action plan and they will suggest improvements over the action plans prepared earlier by the regional officers.”

He said heads of various departments including agriculture, transport, PWD, etc., will also be instructed to take remedial steps. The Transport Department will be provided funds to purchase latest equipment to monitor emission levels in vehicles as 15 per cent pollution is attributed to vehicular emissions. Awareness campaigns will be organised by the officials of the Agriculture Department to ensure that there was no burning of stubble and related activities, which contribute to air pollution. Apart from this, the Engineer in Chief of the PWD, too, has been enlisted as the member of a committee, which is drawing an action plan to mitigate air pollution and this will ensure end-to-end metalling of roads to rule out pollution due to poor roads.

It, however, remains to be seen whether a fresh exercise undertaken by the state government after receiving instructions from the NGT would help curb the rising air pollution.

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