29 of 50 industries in MMR polluting Mumbai’s air

Under the Maharashtra Star Rating Programme for industrial PM emissions, 19 industries scored one star, while 10 got two stars

Updated on: Mar 23, 2018, 10:37:39 IST

Hindustan Times | By Snehal Fernandes, Mumbai

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It has come to the fore that more than 50% industries in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) are releasing fine particulate matter (PM), breaching the safe limits and posing a risk to health.

Exposure to high levels of PM —fine harmful solid and liquid particles floating in the air with a diameter of 10 or 2.5 microns — leads to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and premature death. (Pic for representation/HT)

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) rated 29 of 50 industries in Navi Mumbai, Tarapur, Kalyan and Thane in ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ categories. The industries emit PM2.5 above the prescribed limit of 150 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/Nm3) from the smoke stacks. Most of the 29 industries belong to chemical and pharmaceutical sectors.

Under the Maharashtra Star Rating Programme for industrial PM emissions, 19 industries scored one star, while 10 got two stars. Industries that emit less than 150mg/Nm3 are given four and five stars.

Exposure to high levels of PM —fine harmful solid and liquid particles floating in the air with a diameter of 10 or 2.5 microns — leads to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and premature death.

The initiative to rate industries in Maharahtra began last year and makes it possible to access data from approximately 20,000 industrial stack samples over multiple years based on which ratings will be accorded.

The 50 industries in MMR were added to the programme on Thursday, which is a joint collaboration between the state pollution control board and researchers from Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) at Harvard University, and the Tata Centre for Development.

“The programme has been running successfully in several areas of the state and so far, both the industries and the public have shown keen and active interest,” said P Anbalagan, honorary member secretary, MPCB. “We are planning to expand the number of industries.”

Thursday’s addition is an extension to the programme which so far comprised 79 industries across eight sectors — chemical, pharmaceutical, power, cement, sugar and distilleries, metal work, textile and paper — with at least four recent stack samples.

Those involved in the initiative said the star rating programme is the first in the world to be designed to scientifically measure the impact on pollution from industry.

“MPCB’s programme is path-breaking by providing the public with critical information and rigorously testing its impact on pollution emissions,” said professor Michael Greenstone, one of the principal investigators on the project, and director of EPIC.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Snehal Fernandes
Snehal Fernandes is senior associate editor, who joined HT in 2006. She heads the Mumbai edition’s city reporting team that writes on civic and urban governance, transport and infrastructure, health, and education. She is also the National Science Editor. With a career spanning more than two decades, her expertise lies in writing on science and technology, space, environment, sustainable development, climate change, and nuclear energy. Her work consistently breaks down, and without oversimplyfying, science and research developments into an easy read for a broad audience. In 2009, she was among the very first journalist to report on the opposition to the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Ratnagiri (Konkan) following the Indo- US civil nuclear agreement and consistently followed it with multiple stories from ground zero; wrote about the introduction and subsequent halt to the cultivation of genetically modified (BT) brinjal, and has interviewed Nobel laureates and award winning scientists. In 2012, she was awarded ‘The Press Club Award for Excellence in Journalism’ (Political category) for reports on the mining scam in Goa. Prior to HT, she wrote on education and transport at the Indian Express. She graduated in sociology from St Xavier's College, and firmly believes in the phrase by Karl Marx that ‘Religion is the opium of the people’. When she is not keeping a tab on the going-ons in Mumbai and the scientific world, you'll find her reading world news, or watching crime/espionage series or political dramas. She can repeatedly watch Kill Bill with the same interest as Planet of the Apes and Spiderman. For someone who was not remotely interested in dogs or cats, she loves every bit of her time with her two-year-old Indie cat Bunny.Read More