| Despite laws, pollution level rises in JK | | | Saqib Junaid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, June 27: Despite slew of anti-pollution laws being in place in Jammu and Kashmir, there has been increasing level of pollution, thus posing a serious threat of health in the state.
Although a slew of laws have been framed to protect the environment and public health from damage, like the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1974, the Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1981, the Environment Protection Act 1986, the Non-Biodegradable Material Act 2007, the Brick Kiln Act 2010, it appears that the laws are just on paper with hardly any evidence that such laws are acting as a deterrent to stop violators. If officials are to be believed, JK is heading towards some polluted states of India, like New Delhi, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
According to the official data, in the Khanmoh area, the amount of RSPM recorded in February 2015 was 93.33 micrograms per cubic metre (mg/m3) whereas a year later in February 2016, the same increased to 132.67 mg/m3. Anything above 60 mg/m3 is seriously detrimental to your health. Similarly in the Khrew area, the amount of RSPM recorded in February 2015 was 85.10 mg/m3 and the same jumped up to 127 mg/m3 in January 2016.
The overall RSPM level for the entire 2015 year in Srinagar, Khanmoh, Khrew and Lasjan is 106.32, 127.30, 93.10, and 196.11 respectively, which is way higher than the permissible limit of 60 mg/m3 in a year.
An official said SPCB has installed four air monitoring devices in Srinagar, Khanmoh, Khrew and Lasjan areas. The devices record the levels of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM).
Mugees Shafi, a resident of Pampore said cement factories and stone crushers functioning in the Khrew and Khanmoh areas have wreaked "havoc" on the environment and caused disease among the local population.
"Everyone is facing respiratory problem here. Nobody is controlling the pollution level. We have told the government to shift us to other places but nobody is listening to us," he said, adding that the trucks transporting cement throughout the day also affect the health of the people.
In Khrew, there is a twenty-bed government hospital that copes with the rush of patients coming to the hospital daily complaining of respiratory problems. The hospital provides basic health-care facilities to the patients. According to a report from the World Health Organisation, Khrew has a higher death rate than any other town in the district due to these poisonous gases. These factories emit 100,000 kilograms of toxic fumes, poisonous gases and life-threatening elements in the air on daily basis.
As recently as this month, the minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology, Lal Singh, in a response to a question posed by a legislator, said that major cause of air pollution were vehicles, road construction, infrastructure development activities, mining, burning of garbage and industrial establishments.
There has been around 120 percent increase in traffic in the last seven years. According to the official figures, 355102 vehicles have been registered in the state during the last three years, of which 143146 have been registered in Kashmir and 211956 in the Jammu region.
Besides, the official data states that 182220 vehicles have entered the state from other states in the last three years. A senior official of the Transport department told Early Times that the government was doing nothing to stop the influx of vehicles into the state, which have been phased out in other states.
"Euro-one vehicles (old modeled vehicles) that have been rejected in other states are allowed to ply here," the official said.
On average, approximately 8000 vehicles ply on the Jammu-Srinagar highway and 1000 on Batote-Kishtwar on a daily basis (to and fro).
Although the government made it mandatory for a vehicle owner to have the vehicle certified every six months for the pollution check, it has become a total farce.
There are around one hundred and thirty six pollution checking centres registered with the government to carry out inspection of a vehicle. But most of them give you a certification without even monitoring your vehicle. The private vehicles are supposed to be phased out after 15 years of service while the commercial ones are withdrawn after 25 years by disallowing them the certificate of roadworthiness. "Despite creating immense pollution, commercial vehicles are not being condemned," a senior official of Transport department said. He said just 7,776 commercial vehicles have been phased out from 1973 to March, 2016. |
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