International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies Celebrated at Capital City

Bhubaneswar: The International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies was celebrated in the capital city of Bhubaneswar today with much zeal and commitment. For this purpose, an awareness meeting and a daylong conference was held involving different departments and stakeholders.

Joining the Celebration as Chief Guest, Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra inaugurated it with the lighting of the lamp. In his inaugural address Mahapatra said, “Many polluting particulates in the air are generally invisible, and as such, it needs intensive awareness with convincing messages for the people”. He added, “Air does not have any State or country boundary. We have to be careful to reduce and contain the pollutants at the source at any cost through collaborative and participatory approaches”.

Further, Chief Secretary said, “Encouragingly, the green coverage and forest density in Odisha is constantly increasing over the last 20 years. The State and District pollution action plan has also been prepared. Now we have to take a three-prong approach viz. concrete action at ground level both at an individual and organizational level, intensified awareness among people, and strict enforcement of the rules”.

Joining the occasion, Additional Chief Secretary Forest and Environment Sri Satyabrata Sahu said that National Clean Air Programme ( NACP) launched in 2019 “has set a target for reducing particulate matters in the air by 20 to 30 per cent within coming five years. In comparison to other States, Odisha performed well in this matter. With our common effort, we could make our State a better place to live in”.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary Commerce and Transport Sri Bishnupada Sethi said “A vast majority of the global population today are victims of polluted air, and it is more challenging for the developing countries”. He highlighted different measures like the promotion of electric vehicles, phasing out of old and more polluting vehicles, Government support and subsidy for manufacturing of electric vehicles etc being implemented through the department of Commerce and Transport.

Director Municipal Administration Sri Sangramjeet Nayak lighted upon the steps like the operation of 419 micro compost units in different ULBs, door-to-door collection of around 9 lakh MT of garbage and their disposal in a scientific manner, rural-urban collaboration in waste management, transforming waste to wealth etc. being implemented through Housing and Urban Development department.

Director Environment Sri Sushant Nanda said, “Clean air is a fundamental right and we have to work together to protect this right of the people.” Member Secretary Pollution Control Bard Dr K. Murugesan presented the keynote along with the welcome address in the inaugural session.

This session was followed by two technical sessions. Deliberations were held on the topics like “Overview of NACP”, Importance of “PRANA Portal of NACP”,  “ Carrying capacity study in non-attainment cities”, “State Action Plan for Clean Air”, “Emission inventory and source apportionment study in non-attainment cities of Odisha”, “Satellite mapping of particulate pollution”, and “Impact of particulate matter on ambient air quality”. Thematic experts namely Dr Nihar Ranjan Sahoo, Ms Sonal Jain, Prof Kakoli K. Paul, Ms Anumita Roychoundhury, Dr Yogesh Sathe, Dr Vinoj V, and Dr Boopaty. R lighted on the topics.