POWERCRACY: Haryana wages war on plastics and paddy fires

Mail Today , Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Correspondent : Ajay Kumar
Under fire from both the Supreme Court's monitoring committee on environment and from green activists for the continuing loss of forest cover and increasing air pollution levels, Haryana's environment department says it has taken up a number of measures to address the situation.

The department's biggest headache, it admits, is the unregulated growth of small and medium industries in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Panipat, which, according to a report, contribute the most to the state's air, land and water pollution levels.

The first target of the state's environment ministry is the polythene bag, which though banned in 2010 continues to be used extensively around the state, says Haryana's Environment and Forests Minister, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, says local bodies in cities that abound in small industries will be asked to enforce the state ordinance against polythene use.

Apart from applying brakes on the production of polythene bags, the environment department has launched a campaign to make the people in the state aware of the benefits of using cotton or jute bags.

The other problem, according to Yadav, is the paucity of solid waste treatment plants. Faridabad, Gurgaon and Panipat are the state's most polluting cities, yet there is just one solid waste treatment plant for Gurgaon and Faridabad.

According to the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the maximum quantity of hazardous wastes in the three cities is generated by textile, dyeing and printing units.

The three cities account for 50 per cent of all air pollutants in the state, notably sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

The other environmental concern of the state is the air pollution caused by the burning of paddy and sugarcane crops.

The smog cover in the national capital was said to be made worse by the smoke from burning crops in Haryana.

"The small-scale factories often use these crops as fuel to keep their production costs low. I've directed the department to monitor and restrain farmers who burn paddy and sugarcane to run their mills," the minister adds.

Yadav of course added that farmers in his state may not be aware of the facts, so his department had initiated an education campaign directed at them.

"Our top priority is to clean up the air we breathe in the state," Yadav said, adding that apart from the preventive measures he had initiated, the forest department had drawn up an ambitious plan to plant five crore saplings across the state every year.

 
SOURCE : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2243067/POWERCRACY-Haryana-wages-war-plastics-paddy-fires.html
 


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