BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will team up with the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) to frame a plan for making the state capital free from dust pollution.
A decision to this effect was taken during a meeting attended by Mayor Sulochana Das and municipal Commissioner Vijay Amruta Kulange on Thursday as part of the ‘International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.’
Kulange said the civic body has set a target to bring down the PM10 level to below 60 mg/m3, while steps are also being taken to reduce the level of PM 2.5, another major pollutant in the air. While the PM10 level exceeds 80 mg/m3 most of the time, during winter it crosses 100 mg/m3, BMC officials admitted. He said several measures including roadside and rooftop plantation, laying of grass beds on open soil and other such measures will be taken to deal with the issue.
The mayor on the day also awarded some of the food vendors who shifted from coal challahs to gas-based ones and supported BMC’s drive to check air pollution in the city. The civic body organised an awareness rally and a plantation drive and felicitated some of the sanitation workers.