BHUBANESWAR: In a move to bring down pollution at both state and district levels, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja has directed the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) to achieve the target of reducing particulate matter (PM)10 and PM2.5 levels by 40 per cent within the next five years.
The chief secretary issued the directive during the 6th steering-committee meeting of the Board. Detailed discussions were held on the progress of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as well as the State Clean Air Programme (SCAP). The chief secretary stressed focusing on long-term measures such as curbing vehicular and industrial emissions, preventing road dust and open waste burning, and promoting clean energy sources under both the programmes.
While industrial and urban centres such as Rourkela, Angul, Talcher, Balasore, Rairangpur, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar are covered under NCAP, 12 towns - Barbil, Berhampur, Belpahar, Bonai, Brajarajnagar, Jharsuguda, Joda, Keonjhar, Paradip, Puri, Rajgangpur and Sambalpur - have been included in the newly-launched SCAP initiative of the state government this year.
Under the NCAP framework, officials said efforts are being made to reduce concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 emitted mainly from road dust, construction work, industrial smoke and diesel vehicles, which pose significant threats to air quality and public health. Under SCAP, the state will spend `150 crore to improve air quality in the 12 cities for which the OSPCB has already submitted the proposals to the government.