Bihar Takes Steps to Combat Pollution: Review Meeting Held Under Environment Minister Dr. Prem Kumar

A review meeting on issues related to Bihar State Pollution Control Board was organized in the auditorium located at Aranya Bhawan under the chairmanship of Dr. Prem Kumar, Honorable Minister, Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bihar. The meeting was attended by Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests - cum - Chief Wildlife Warden / Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Work Planning Training and Extension / Chief Conservator of Forests (Monitoring and Evaluation) / Chief Conservator of Forests, Joint Forest Management / Conservator of Forests, Wildlife Zone / Member Secretary, Bihar State Pollution Control Board, Patna and Joint Secretary, Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bihar / Private Secretary to the Honorable Minister from the Secretariat and all regional Chief Conservators of Forests / Conservators of Forests / Forest Division officials through video conferencing.

The Honorable Minister, Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bihar informed that air pollution / water pollution / noise pollution has become a serious problem in most of the cities of the state including Patna. Necessary action is being taken by Bihar State Pollution Control Board to control air pollution / water pollution / noise pollution. The Honorable Minister discussed the pollution problems with the officials.

* The long shore of the northern region of Patna, situated on the banks of the Ganga, is filled with sand. The soil of the Ganga coast of Patna is light, due to which the entire atmosphere is filled with dust when the wind blows. Due to high humidity during winter days, a layer of dust particles is formed in the atmosphere, due to which the amount of air pollution increases significantly and as soon as the weather changes, the air quality improves. The condition of air pollution remains serious in Bihar from December to January and as soon as the wind speed increases in February, the layer of dust particles and moisture breaks and the condition of air pollution improves. Air pollution decreases significantly when it rains in December and January.

* The use of coal, furnace oil and wood (except husk prelate) has been banned in the industrial units of the state and CNG / PNG / LNG has been made mandatory for all units where the PNG pipeline has reached. At present, PNG / CNG is being used by some industrial units.

• Complaints have been received against some construction agencies for spreading pollution, which have also been investigated and many construction agencies have also been fined. Apart from the Pollution Control Board, investigations are also being done and fines are being imposed by Patna Municipal Corporation. Action has been taken against more than 5 thousand agencies by Patna Municipal Corporation. More than 10 lakh fines have been collected from these agencies. • The situation of pollution spread by vehicles in the capital is very subtle. Here, most of the pollution was spread by tempos and old buses more than 15 years old. At present, tempos and buses are being operated through CNG. Only school vehicles are running on diesel, action is being taken to convert them to CNG as well.

• To control the dust on the roads of the capital, the Municipal Corporation is spraying water on the roads in the city from tankers.

* 192 farmers have been deprived of various types of grants being given to prevent stubble burning.

The Hon'ble Minister informed that air pollution/water pollution/noise pollution is a serious problem. 70 percent of air pollution in Bihar is weather based and 30 percent is man-made pollution. It is difficult to control weather based pollution, but efforts are being made to control man-made pollution. Man-made pollution is mixed, it includes vehicle pollution, smoke emitted from factories, pollution spread by burning garbage and gas burnt in homes. Success has been achieved in controlling man-made pollution. Other actions including imposing fines against construction agencies spreading pollution are being taken.

The Hon'ble Minister directed that a list of illegal brick kilns operating in the state should be prepared and made available to the concerned District Officer and immediate ban/action should be taken on them. The concerned city unit should be directed to completely ban single use plastic. The general public should be made aware for environmental strengthening through advertisements in newspapers. In this regard, the general public can inform about the pollution happening around them on the helpline number 7070379278 issued by the department. People should also be made aware through hand bills / hoardings / advertisements.

The Honorable Minister appreciated the efforts made by Bihar State Pollution Control Board towards pollution control and environmental protection and directed to complete the pending works on time. Along with this, instructions were given to do all the necessary work to keep the air quality index of the main cities of the state such as Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur as per the standard by continuously monitoring them.