By Manka Behl
Nagpur: Almost 100 industries in the state are emitting particulate matter which is almost twice as much the safe limit prescribed by the Union environment ministry. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has warned the polluting industries to take up mitigation measures in three months.
The statistics are based on the star-rating programme, a first of its kind project jointly taken up by the MPCB, Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC-India) and other organizations. To provide information on environmental performance of the industries to public, the programme gives star ratings to the industries based on the median concentration of latest stack (chimney) samples for particulate matter (PM).
According to the standards laid down by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the permissible limit for PM stack emissions is 150 milligrams per normal metric cube (mg/NM3). In Maharashtra, 99 industries have failed in meeting this standard out of the 252 industries associated with the programme.
The highest number of industries with one-star rating are in Thane, statistics reveal. “One-star indicates that the particulate matter emitted by these units is 250 mg/NM3 or more, which is nearly twice the permissible standards,” said Ishan Choudhary, the communications and outreach coordinator at EPIC-India.
Thane’s worst polluting industries include six from chemical sector, one each from metal works, textiles and paper. Two months back, TOI had reported that 29 out of 50 industries in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) are highly polluting and have been rated one and two stars.
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