Draft plan to improve air quality in city prepared (06.12.2011 news in The Hindu)

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

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Pollution Control Board to submit it to State Plan panel

Garbage being burnt near the mouth of the Cooum river. — Photo: N.Sridharan

A draft plan listing out the measures required to improve the air quality in the city, including the equipment need, has been prepared by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).

From regular cleaning of roads to preventing burning of garbage and garden waste, the measures suggested are many. The draft plan is expected to be submitted to the State Planning Commission soon for its consideration, TNPCB Member Secretary K. Karthikeyan told The Hindu recently.

The draft plan would help the Commission, which is studying ways and means to improve urban air quality, to make recommendations. The Commission would also fix a financial outlay for implementing the plans,? he said.

?Effective monitoring of ambient air quality is also one of the recommendations proposed in the draft plan. However, we do not have sufficient equipment, which is why we have recently placed orders for high and low volume samplers worth Rs.2.50 crore. The Board will procure more equipment with funds from the Planning Commission,? he said. Though the educated sections are expected to be aware of its ill-effects, dry garden waste was still being burnt in homes and apartment complexes instead of being composed. Decentralised facilities could be set up for effective composting. There are instances where residents associations and NGOs have successfully implemented decentralised composting. ?Exnora Green Pammal is successfully running a compost yard,? Mr. Karthikeyan added.

A source apportionment study conducted by the IIT Madras a couple of years ago found that gaseous pollutants were not significant air polluters as much as the particulate matter, he said.