Dust is a major cause of pollution than from vehicle emission- Member Secretary Pollution Control Board

Guwahati: A general belief is that pollution is caused by vehicle emissions only, Business Northeast in an exclusive interview with the Member Secretary of the Pollution Control Board Dr. Shantanu Kumar Dutta revealed that dust is one of the major causes of pollution in the city. This dust may be from the construction of flyovers, brick kilns, or dust from roads.

Excerpts from the interview are given below. 

Question: What are things that are being done to reduce the carbon emissions as well as SPM emissions and what is the target to reduce those emissions?
Answer: we have been analyzing what are the factors for high air pollution in Guwahati and other small towns like Nalbari. There are five non-attainment cities in Assam. This is based on PM 10 and PM 2.5. Last January when our quality index in Guwahati crossed level 300, it was of alarming situation. We can see a haze of smog and all. So the air was not clean. We tried to find the reasons. It is found that the construction of flyovers and all these things have contributed more than that by vehicular emissions and all those things. We have sorted out some plans for controlling that pollution like water sprinkling and the like. As an outcome of those meetings, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation has purchased vehicles with a vacuum suction system to clean the road dust and all. This is very helpful. I have seen in the last week itself that the national highways bypass under construction. Two three flyovers are still under construction. So, those are the points of worry. They are generating dust mostly.

Another issue is that we have so many brick kilns near Guwahati or other towns say Nagaon. Within the 15-kilometer radius of Nagaon, we have a quite few numbers of brick industry. So, the good initiative is that there is a zig-zag technology. One notification has come in 2022. The provisions of this notification are to be implemented. We have given all those conditions to all the brick kilns. After one year or two years, we won’t see much black smoke from the brick kilns or tea industry. It is because they will adopt to zig zag technique mandatorily. There will be more efficient burning of coal.  Then you won’t see black smoke but white smoke will come. That will be mostly moisture. We will see that there will be improvement, especially in the air quality, particularly that caused by brick contractors. Otherwise, we don’t have many agricultural waste-burning issues in Guwahati and all. Land cutting issues will be there and it will be continuing. But, land cutting particularly in hill sides is still in the unorganized sector.

Question: Winters are arriving and Guwahati will be seeing high pollution especially due to vehicles: is there a plan this year?
Answer: As per the provisions of the rules Pollution Control Board does not have much role to enforce regarding vehicular emission control. This is looked after by the Department of Transport. Now, what the government is taking initiative is what we have already discussed in the Conference. In Guwahati now we have two old vehicle scrapping centers. It is called a registered vehicle scrapping center. These two facilities have already come up. The Government of India is going away with old vehicles mandatorily. This will help a little bit. In Guwahati or other places in Assam vehicular emission is not the main contributor to pollution. Not only air pollution. We are finding many issues regarding water pollution. In the vehicular sector, the service sector is from places like the service sector and all these places. It is because water is being used for washing the vehicles becomes dirty. There is 
a treatment system. We are trying to enforce all the provisions like after treatment water can be recycled. All the service sectors follow our instructions. The problems are not only from a particular matter. Of all the automobile workshops, say dealer workshops are the main ones. They have a booth and all these things. We are trying to mandate specific conditions like how to control these emissions and do even with the pain residues and all these and how they will be disposed of. They should follow the provisions of the hazardous waste rules.

Question: What are the action plan to reduce pollution in small towns and big towns to reduce the pollution?
Answer: The main stakeholding departments are like Pollution Control Board,  Department of Industries, and Transport Department, It is a joint effort by all these departments. Such Action Plans have already been framed in the line of the National Clean Air Programme. The government of Assam has already formulated the State Clean Air Programme. This applies to all the towns. Not only like water sprinkling but there are have some other issues like road should be cleaned regularly. Most of the municipalities are now purchasing vacuum cleaners and all these things. Recently, there was a study from IIT Guwahati under the leadership of Dr. Gokhale. He has found that road emission is road dust mainly not vehicular emission. So, the road should be cleaned regularly. The government is buying many smaller vehicles and they are switching to electric vehicles. Even the road trippers will be electric vehicles which will carry the garbage and all.

Question: How you are creating awareness among the public about controlling air pollution?
Answer: We are taking the help of social media, websites, and forums like this(SAFE Annual Convention (SIAM organized its "24th Edition of SAFE Annual Convention 2023:) forums. The Pollution Control Board itself has signed MoUs with so many colleges only with the objective that the message of pollution control is spread out. Under the National Clean Air program we are organizing so many mass awareness programs on special days like October 2, January 26th, and so on. We also select days like Ozone Day, Environment Day, and so on. Now, the Pollution Control Board of Assam is reaching out to the people.

Question: What challenges Pollution Control Board is facing to reach its goal?
Answer: In this regard, I will blame the industries and our people as well. The rules are very clear. If you say plastic waste management, solid waste management, or hazardous waste management there are rules. Rules are very strict in terms of the air act or water act. For example, I am saying that in an automobile workshop, they should treat the water with a focus on recycling. Most of the automobile workshops. Forget about recycling, as of now most of the automobile workshops have the ETP only for the namesake. They are not even operating the ETPs. Water is bypassed. Affluent is going down the drain. So, these issues are problematic. Manpower constraint is always there. Then, the interests of the people to work in their field for that regulation taking the regulatory steps is also there. People are not very interested also. We have to take provisions, we have to issue show cause notice, etc. but we have to identify the defaulters. This is also an issue.

Question: What is the budget incurred by the Pollution Control Board of Assam to do all these activities for pollution control?
Answer: There is no specific budget like that. Under the National Clean Air Programme the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is providing the budget for these five non-attainment cities ( Guwahati, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, Silchar) in the state. For the other towns for ULB (Urban Local Bodies) activities The Pollution Control Board is not giving any financial help. For these five cities, funds are coming from the other places. For all the mass awareness programs, etc. we bear the expenditure. We have organized so many mass awareness programs. We have sufficient funds for all these activities. The Pollution Control Board is collecting consent fees from all industries. There is no fixed budget. For example, recently, under the National Clean Air Programme the Guwahati Municipal Corporation will get Rs 18 crores or Rs 20 crores. Fund constraints will not be there. If we give more action plans with concrete utilization certificates, more funds will come.

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