State panel to draw up plan to reduce pollution

Waking up to Mumbai’s deteriorating environmental condition, the state environment department has set up an eight-member panel to draw up a green mission for the city.

Waking up to Mumbai’s deteriorating environmental condition, the state environment department has set up an eight-member panel to draw up a green mission for the city.

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It will also conduct a study on air pollution and its effects on health in six to seven areas in the city. The panel, led by environment secretary Valsa Nair Singh, will identify problem areas and prepare an action plan to reduce air, water and noise pollution, besides addressing traffic and waste management concerns. “We are holding meetings with various stakeholders,” Singh said.

In its September 8 edition, HT had reported on the rising levels of carcinogenic air pollutants in the city. The plan will be ready within three months and submitted to a committee led by chief secretary J.P. Dange for implementation.

The four-year study, to be conducted jointly with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), KEM hospital and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, will create a database on sources of air pollution and co-relate air pollution and health effects among children and senior citizens, in the sample areas.

“There’s no database for the city to link air pollution, its causes and health effects,” said Ajay Deshpande, zonal officer, MPCB.