A report by the OSPCB revealed that pollutants in the ambient air were found to be far above the permissible limit at all the six pollution monitoring stations in the city, mainly due to vehicular emissions.

“To monitor pollution level on a regular basis, the pollution board has installed six pollution monitoring devices at Patrapada, IRC village, OSPCB office, Capital police station, Rasulgarh and at the OSPCB laboratory in Chandrasekharpur. The Board is also considering for use of CNG as an alternate fuel for diesel and petrol-driven vehicles to check vehicular pollution,” said Panigrahi on the occasion of the World Environment Day held here on Sunday. Excise Minister Dr Damodar Rout opined that protection of the environment has only been restricted to observation of the day while the real picture is quite alarming in the entire world. Ironically, educated, civil and rich communities of the societies are largely responsible for environmental degradation. They invite various environmental issues like climate change, soil erosion and global warming.

“Development leads to environment degradation. While we cannot ignore development, we should be cautious that development is not done at the cost of environment. Fly ash and green house effects not only lead to climate change but also have impact in agriculture and country’s economy. To tackle the situation, we all should do our part by ensuring the minimum use of energy and water,” the Minister said.

Stressing on the need for promotion of greenery and environmental awareness, he said collective and productive efforts should be made by both the Government and other stakeholders, including the general public for protection of environment.

The event, organised by the OSPCB and the Prerana, was attended by senior BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan, Prerana president Dilip Srichandan, Utkal University of Culture former Vice-Chancellor Dr Bimalendu Mohanty.