The Bokaro SAIL steel plant in Jharkhand, one of India’s oldest, is severely compromising child health in the surrounding region due to its air pollutant emissions. The plant is emblematic of the fact that India still has no national standards for sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from steel-producing facilities like sinter plants, mill zones, and refractory material plants despite their being recognised as SO2 emission sources.
The impact of the Bokaro plant on child health is part of a new health impact assessment (HIA) by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an independent research organisation focused on revealing the trends, causes, and health impacts, as well as the solutions, to air pollution.
The report, launched by CREA on February 26, analysed the stack emissions of the plant in the financial year 2023.
It found that the plant’s emissions led to an estimated 270 low birthweight births, 280 preterm births, and 25 new cases of child asthma in each year of operation while creating nearly US$80 million in annual economic burden.
In adults, the Bokaro plant emissions are linked to an estimated 170 deaths due to exposure to PM2.5 and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) as well as 290 asthma-related emergency room visits each year, according to a statement from CREA.
It added that the plantʼs emissions can also be linked to approximately 123,000 days of work absences due to air pollution-related health issues. These absences represent lost productivity, disrupted workflows, and reduced economic output across multiple sectors, the costs of which are estimated at approximately US$ 79 million (Rs 640 crore) in 2023.
The statement pointed out that the plant uses highly polluting coal and coke. As reported in the plantʼs compliance reports, only two of the six ducts for sinter stacks have more efficient electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) installed, while the rest only have outdated cyclone dust collectors, making them far more polluting.
The Bokaro case study, according to CREA, can be seen as representative of a nationwide problem.
The steel industry is classified as one of the 17 highly polluting industries by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), with a capacity of almost 200 million tonnes of steel per year and plans to increase this to 300 million tonnes by 2030. India also accounts for 57 per cent of all coal-based steelmaking capacity under development globally.
“Indiaʼs steel sector has also been found to be the least transparent and most ʻshy of public scrutinyʼ in an assessment scoring ʻgreen-nessʼ of different industries. In 2014, the CPCB mandated installation of Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) in 17 categories of highly polluting industries including integrated steel plants. However, over a decade later, the implementation of CEMS is highly incomplete, as calibration and regulation remain as major challenges. A 2020 investigative report found that the CEMS data was hardly available in the public domain, several industries were found offline, and there was almost no historical data available for any meaningful analysis — and not much has changed since then,” the statement observed.
“Indiaʼs steel output has seen blistering growth in recent years. In the absence of effective emission controls and plans for shifting to clean production routes, this has meant surging emissions of both air pollutants and greenhouse gases. With the technological progress of the past decade, thereʼs no reason for India to follow the model of ʻpollute now, clean up laterʼ that has saddled other countries with health and environmental burdens for decades after their industrialisation,” the statement quoted Lauri Myllyvirta, Lead Analyst at CREA.
“Bokaro only serves as one alarming example of the environmental, health, and economic impacts of Indiaʼs steel plants. The sectorʼs weak pollution standards as well as lack of data transparency and inconsistent data reporting shield it from public scrutiny. As India moves to expand its steelmaking capacity, it is essential that we regulate the sector now before we witness more environmental deterioration and public health damage,” said Anubha Aggarwal, Analyst at CREA.