PM says : Look East
------------------------
When Shri Modiji says , “ Look
East “ , it is for a good reason
Following news reports prove his point :
COMPARE and CONTRAST :
IN MAHARASHTRA :
Around 6.7 million children below five years of age in Maharashtra
are inhaling particulate matter (PM10) that is above the permissible limits set
by the law, revealed the second edition of air
quality report in India by Greenpeace India on Monday.
The report also said 1.4 million of these children are exposed to twice
the pollution
standards.
Additionally, 2.6 million children live in districts where there are no
air-quality monitoring stations.
Exposure to high levels of PM10 — they
are fine harmful solid and liquid particles floating in the air with a diameter
of 10 microns — leads to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and premature
death.
“It’s time we understand the sources of
pollution. While India does have guidelines for outdoor pollution, we need to
study indoor air pollution, which is a much-neglected issue right now that has
no prescribed emission limits,” said Avick Sil, regional director, Environment
Policy and Research India, who was not part of the Greenpeace study.
“Similar to measuring ground-level
ozone, there is a need to also study particulate matter at the ground level. A
comprehensive air pollution mitigation policy can be thought of only if we look
at both forms of pollution,” he said.
Across India, about 47 million children below 5 years live in areas where
PM10 levels exceeded annual air pollution limits, including 17 million children under the same age
in areas where pollution levels are more than twice the prescribed limits.
The latest version of the Airpocalypse
II report, which analysed PM10 annual average of 280 cities across India with a
population of 630 million, found that in 2016, none
of the 24 cities and towns across Maharashtra with air quality monitoring
facilities complied with the annual PM10 air quality standards set by
the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Six of the 24 locations recorded annual
PM10 levels twice the permissible limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre
(ug/m3) by CPCB, and almost seven times above
the standard of 20ug/m3 by the World Health Organisation.
Nanded recorded the highest annual PM 10
levels at 151ug/m3, followed by Dombivali (140ug/m3), Mumbai (130ug/m3), Akola
(123ug/m3), Badlapur (122ug/m3), and Ambernath (121ug/m3)
In addition to Mumbai, the annual PM10
levels for other major cities of Maharashtra stood at 117ug/3 at Thane followed
by Pune (99ug/m3), Nashik (86ug/m3), Nagpur (82ug/m3), Navi Mumbai (93%), and
Panvel (118ug/m3).
“This report, which is second in the series
after last year, once again raises an alarm for regions like Maharashtra where
the air pollution situation is already at hazardous levels and increasing day
by day,” said Sunil Dahiya, senior campaigner, Greenpeace India.
Dahiya added, “Cities like Mumbai should
lead by examples of not being on list of most polluted and unhealthy cities to
live in, but in being the cities where clean air, environment and health is
prioritized to provide better quality of life for public.”
In 2017, the MPCB, based on the National
Clean Air Programme, started the process of formulating an action plans to
mitigate air pollution for multiple cities in the state. “We have had
consultation meetings with various stakeholders and agencies such as municipal
corporation, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and the
Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay. We are in the process of drafting an
action plan,” said VM Mothghare, joint director, MPCB.
The Greenpeace India report used monthly
PM10 data for 2016 from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), and 65
manual and continuous air quality monitoring stations. The report found that 23
states had no real-time air quality monitoring data available to citizens –
highest real-time coverage was found in Delhi followed by Maharashtra and
Andhra Pradesh.
IN BEIJING :
Beijing, which suffered heavy pollution
for years, plans to spend over 19 billion yuan (about $3 billion) to reduce air pollution in the Chinese capital this
year.
It marks a yearly increase of 590
million yuan, according to statistics released at the on going annual session
of the 15th Beijing Municipal People’s Congress.
The money will be used to control
pollution sources such as coal, vehicles and dust, and to support projects to
replace coal with clean energy in rural areas, according to a draft of the 2018
Beijing budget report.
The smog-prone Chinese capital has intensified
measures in recent years to improve its air quality. So far this year Beijing
has more clear sunny days than compared to the previous years though smog
reappears when there was no heavy wind.
In 2017, Beijing switched 901 villages from
reliance on coal to clean energy and phased out nearly half a million out-dated
vehicles.
Almost no coal consumption takes place
in Beijing’s six districts and its southern plain areas, state- run Xinhua news
agency reported.
The average density of PM 2.5 in Beijing
was 58 micrograms per cubic meter last year, meeting the target set by the
State Council, and 20.5 per cent less than in
2016.
According to the municipal congress, Beijing plans to invest more than 67 billion
yuan for environmental protection this year in sectors such as air pollution,
water and soil improvement, as well as integrated garbage treatment.
Dear Shri Devendra
Fadnavisji ,
I have no doubt you too could bring
about even better improvements if you make up your mind to save millions of
young lives
And funds cannot be a constraint,
considering that Mumbai Municipal Corporation is sitting on a pile of cash – Rs
74,000 Cr ( approx. $ 12 billion ) – as fixed deposits in various banks ( -
earning Rs 7,000 cr by way of interest , annually )
There can be no better way to put this
to use !
31 Jan 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
With Regards,
hemen
parekh
(
M ) +91 - 98,67,55,08,08
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