State's growth policy puts environment on backburner

The Pioneer , Monday, June 05, 2006
Correspondent : Sanjeev Patro
Thanks to the dogmatic manner in which the development agenda is being implemented in Orissa the vital sustainability factor is being completely ignored.

The State seems to be sinking into the whirlpool of environmental pollution. For this very reason, United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) had commented that persistent insensible policies have sowed the seeds for Orissa being home to some of the worst drought affected regions in the world.

Again Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) at its conference warned that the path that Orissa has chosen would end in an environmental catastrophe, as wet areas would become wetter and dry areas would turn drier.

A US senator has blamed the perpetual environment decline to the policies of the World Bank (WB), the European Union (EU), and the US. He said, WB's $700 mn loan, aided by EU and US, for large-scale rapid, instead of long term planned mining activities would defeat the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol and expose the people of the State to the hazards of global warming. Even WB has commented that Orissa has a pollution intensive industrial structure and cautioned that the cascading health costs would hit the economy of the State in the long run.

Orissa accounts for the highest malarial cases in the country and shares more than 3 per cent of the total GHG emissions in the world. New sponge iron projects and aluminum smelters would raise it to five per cent by 2008, a recent study by WHO warns that high emission of GHG s would multiply malarial cases enormously. Environmentalists warn that, Orissa is on the fast track to desertification, the instance of panchapati mali in Koraput district is a prime example of this phenomenon, where all parameters of desertification are in evidence.

Environmentalists rue that, Orissa is subject to two kinds of pollution- poverty induced pollution amid the negative effects of dogmatic development theory. They say, policymakers seem to have given a quiet burial to the basic tenet of 'environment conservation and sustainable development'.

Abject poverty and lack of resources see the poor using coal, fuel wood, cow dung and kerosene, which have a deleterious effect on both indoor and outdoor pollution. A study says, the cities have some 30 per cent of their population living in slums and their daily fuel consumption is 14 tonnes of coal, 10 tonnes of fuel wood and cow dung and 47 tonnes of kerosene.

According to UNDP, agricultural pollution in Orissa is also a matter of concern as it leads to soil erosion and sedimentation of reservoirs. It is said that irrigation changes the structure of the soil and in addition to it, insensible application of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides degrade its natural, physical, chemical and biological properties further by destroying the micro-organisms of the soil leading to increased sterility and reduced water holding capacity of the soil.Additionally, there is the

problem of salinisation and waterlogging due to construction of dams and reservoirs in geologically unsuitable areas.If not dealt with, experts feel it could endanger food security.

The dogma of industrialisation as a panacea for growth stands exposed going by the IPCC report, which says, environmental damage accounts 4.5- 8 per cent of GDP. It further says, urban air pollution costs $1.3 bn per year and water pollution costs $5-7bn per year and above all turns some 83-163 hecatares a year into wasteland. In Orissa, some 2.9 million hectares of land, have turned barren.

The mineral belt of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Kalahandi districts, the coal belt of Angul-Talcher, the industrial townships of Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Paradip bear the brunt of excessive air pollution.

Studies show, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh with some 130 sponge iron units (of which 50 are unregistered), have high concentration of heavy metals like cadmium, nickel, hexavalent chromium, arsenic, copper besides the SO2 and Nox contents.

Steel plants and automobile emissions - which are quiet high in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Talcher, Rourkela due to a near 50 per cent rise in cars, 60 per cent rise in 2-wheelers and 30 per cent in 3-wheelers. They release a kind of particle known as ice-nuclei. These are responsible for modifying cloud structure. As a consequence, 25 per cent districts show less than normal rainfall compared to that in the1950's. Coastal areas, where maximum temperatures were 38-39 degree Celsius now sizzle at 43 plus degree Celsius. Winters get warmer, experts opine it could adversely affect rice production.

Given this dire situation, the Government needs to wake up learn from the experience of the world's cleanest yet industrialised countries or else Orissa could soon have vast stretches of sand dunes and camels for transport.

 
SOURCE : The Pioneer, Monday, June 05, 2006
 


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