Jharkhand cities lag in air pollution prevention
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has released the report of the ‘Clean Air Survey-2023’, which confirms that serious efforts are not being made to prevent pollution in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. However, the report says that Dhanbad has done better than Ranchi-Jamshedpur.
The survey report includes a list of 47 cities in the country with a population of more than 10 lakh. In this list, steel city Jamshedpur got 42nd and capital Ranchi got 38th rank. Whereas, coal city Dhanbad is seen in a better position with 19th rank.
The central government is running a campaign to reduce the level of pollution in the country under the ‘National Air Control Program’. For this, a phased survey has been started this year in 131 major cities of the country. The responsibility of this has been given to CPCB. The first phase of this survey started from 2022, which will run till 2026.
In this year’s survey, cities have been divided into three categories. Category-1 includes cities with a population of less than three lakh. Category-2 includes cities with a population of more than three lakh and category-3 includes cities with a population of more than 10 lakh. Ranchi, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur from Jharkhand are included in these category cities. Separate survey reports have also been prepared for each category.
The following points were surveyed for cities:
- Solid waste discharge and collection
- Solid waste collection and its disposal
- Status of solid waste processing plant
- Collection of plastic waste
- Condition of roads and potholes
- Paver block on the side of the road
- Greenery on the side of the road
- Monitoring of pollution-preventing vehicles
- Establishment of Pollution Under Control Center (PUC)
- Vehicles related to PUC center
- Status of e-vehicles
- EV charging point
- LPG and PNG covered houses
Dhanbad has improved a lot
The Member Secretary of the State Pollution Board, VYK Das, said that Dhanbad’s situation has improved a lot. Many programs have been taken for it. Efforts are also being made to prevent air pollution in Ranchi and Jamshedpur. Its effect will also be seen soon.
Indore first, Ranchi gets 117 points
CPCB has assessed the situation of pollution in selected cities on the basis of total 200 points. 47 cities with a population of more than 10 lakh have been included in this. Indore has topped the list with 180 points, followed by Surat (169), Ghaziabad (165), Visakhapatnam (162) and Faridabad (161). Ranchi has got 117 points, while Jamshedpur has got 115 points.
What can be done to prevent pollution?
There are a number of things that can be done to prevent pollution in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. These include:
- Reducing the use of private vehicles and promoting public transportation
- Planting more trees
- Imposing stricter emission standards for vehicles
- Controlling dust pollution from construction sites
- Regulating the use of firecrackers
- Promoting the use of renewable energy sources
The government and the people need to work together to prevent pollution and improve the air quality in these cities.
