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AFTER the English cricket team lost
the first Test match against. India in
Calcutta last month, it resorted to
"smogscreens" to defend its performance. The ball was figuratively set
rolling by Ted Dexter, chairman of
the English cricket selection committee, who reportedly blamed the
defeat on ecological problems in the
city. Dexter declared, "The lads have
said it is difficult to play when, you
can taste the fog" and went on to
announce he had commissioned a
report on pollution levels in Indian
cities.
The allegation evoked an indignant response from the Union ministry of environment and forests
(MEF). Environment minister Kamal
Nath contended the English selector's statement was not quite cricket.
With unbureaucratic. speed, the MEF
released figures on pollution levels
in Indian cities. Some newspapers
published the MEF data that showed,
contrary to the belief of veteran
English cricketers, the air over many
of India's cricket centres had not
changed in recent years.
However, MEF officials may be
guilty of playing with figures. Their
data differs quite starkly from estimates in a study by the United
Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the World Health
Organisation (WHO). The report,
Urban Pollution in Megacities of the
World, shows the atmosphere in
many Indian cities is far worse than
the MEF would concede. The MEF
spokesperson countered by saying
the published figures attributed to it
in Indian newspapers were a year
old.
MEF officials admit the UNEP-
WHO report is based ori two systematic and ongoing surveys of urban air
pollution in the country - the
National Air Quality Monitoring
Network of the National Engineering
Research Institute (NEERI) at Nagpur,
and the National Ambient Air
Pollution Quality Monitoring
(NAAQM) of the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB) in Delhi.
Interestingly, while the UNEP-WHO
report argues NAAQM's findings "are
of little use in comparison with the
data from NEERI ...... the MEF's estimates are much lower than those of
the CPCB.
Ironically, the report's projection
of Calcutta's pollution levels for
2000 counters the impression once
created by the late Rajiv Gandhi that
Calcutta was a dying city. The report
says industrial emissions in Calcutta
have "stabilised in recent years and
are projected to remain constant, or
may even decline over the next 10
years. "
However, UNEP's estimates are
several times higher than those of
MEF. The report.suggests coal-burning power plants and other industries
in Calcutta release 200,000 tonnes of
suspended particulate matter (SPM)
- the highest in India. On the other
hand, data released by MEF claims
SPM in Calcutta amounts to only
2.71 tonnes a day, or about 1,000
tonnes annually.
The UNEP-WHO report says the
extraordinarily heavy SPM emission
is due to the extremely high ash content - upto 30 per cent - in the
coal used by Calcutta's industries.
However, sulphur dioxide emissions
in the city are shown in the UNEP-
WHO report as being well bellow
WHO norms and attributes it surprisingly to the extremely low sulphur
content of the coal burnt.
However, Bombay, the venue of
the third and final Test match
between India and England, is less
M'rtunate in this respect. Bombay is
burdened by sulphur dioxide emissions of nearly 157,000 tonnes a year
(1,250 tonnes, according to MEF) partly due to its role as the country's
leading commercial port. Ships burning furnace oil with high sulphur
content account for 34 tonnes of sulphur dioxide daily. In contrast, MEF
claims total sulphur dioxide discharge here is limited to 3.36 tonnes
a day.
Till 1990, industries accounted
for nearly two-thirds of the sulphur
dioxide emissions in Bombay. But
this has levelled off in the past two
years with the increased availability
of natural gas.
Mindboggling emissions
The UNEP-WHO report, in contrast
to Calcutta and Bombay, predicts
Delhi's air quality will deteriorate in
the next few decades. Delhi's area
and population growth rates are
higher than of the other two megacities. These, combined with rapidly
increasing industrial activity, result-
ed in a continually increasing
demand for energy in and around the
Capital and in a mindboggling
increase in sulphur dioxide, SPM
and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions
over the past decade.
While the MEF claims annual
sulphur dioxide emission in Delhi is
a comparably minuscule 2,779
tonnes annually, the UNEP-WHO
report suggests the figure might be
closer to 46,000 tonnes a year, with
the city's two power stations producing about 25,500 tonnes.
The high sulphur dioxide emissions are also from Delhi's automobile population, which has the highest growth rate in the country. During
1971-81, the Capital's population
increased by half and the number of
vehicles by one-and-a-half times.
According to NEERI, vehicular
emissions have in6reased carbon
monoxide pollution from 140,000
tonnes/year in 1980 to 265,000
tonnes/year in 1990. The MEF has
stated this to be about 169,000 tonnes
annually. The UNEP-WHO report
projects carbon monoxide levels in
Delhi will rise to more than 400,000
tonnes annually by 2000.
However, the report also says that
"clear air legislation" and pollution
control measures can prevent this
scenario. To support this argument, it
cites the example of London, where
there has been a "dramatic reduction
in SPM and sulphur dioxide concentrations" in the past three decades.
Some of Ted Dexter's best batting
in the 62 tests he played was at Lords
during the late 1950s and early 60s.
In 1965, sulphur dioxide emissions
in London amounted to 179,000
tonnes; in 1983,, the emissions were
reduced to less than 50,000 tonnes.
Similarly, carbon monoxide emissions in 1978 amounted to nearly
950,000 tonnes. These are expected
to drop to less than 350,000 tonnes
by 2000.
The UNEP-WHO report says air
pollution can be tackled with strategies based on relevant and proper
planning, controls and stringent regulation. But, it warns the remedy
demands true appreciation of the
size of the problem -faced by these
megacities.
With MEF's drastic understatement, its efforts at solving pollution
will turn out to be a metaphorica
case of myopic playing and missing
Having won all three Tests agains
the English team would then only be
a small consolation.
DIFFERING ESTIMATES |
Pollution
levels in Indian metropolises in 1990
(tonnes
per annum) |
DELHI |
|
MEF |
UNEP-WHO |
SO2
SPM
CO
NOx |
2,779
3.192
1,68,336
39,201 |
46,000
116,000
265,000
73,000 |
BOMBAY |
|
MEF |
UNEP-WHO |
SO2
SPM
CO
NOx |
1,249.92
1,733.52
145,675
21,955 |
157,000
50,000
188,000
58,000 |
CALCUTTA |
|
MEF |
UNEP-WHO |
SO2
SPM
CO
NOx |
1,131
1,008
58,356
16,957 |
25,500
200,000
177,000
40,2000 |
SO2
- Sulphur dioxide, SPM - Suspended particulate matter, CO - Carbon monoxide, NOx
- Oxides of nitrogen
MEF
figures: Indian Express, February 5, 1993. |