Pollution control board to get award for air purification plan for towns, cities

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 6

The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board has been selected for “SKOCH Order-of-Merit” award in the category of environment for launching the Pollution Abating Plants Abhiyan (PAPA) for the purification of air in towns and cities.

The award would be presented at the 53rd SKOCH Summit at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, on September 18.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had identified seven towns and cities of Himachal Pradesh, namely Baddi, Nalagarh, Parwanoo, Paonta Sahib, Sundernagar, Kala Amb and Damtal, under the non-attainment cities/ towns programme, where PM10 was found to be exceeding the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 2009 for four consecutive years from 2011 to 2015.

Following directions issued by the CPCB to take remedial measures, the abhiyan was launched in consultation with a number of stakeholders across the state to abate high air pollution. One more industrial cluster of Una, where pollution level was also observed to be high, was included under the abhiyan, raising the number of towns to eight.

Based on several research findings on air purifying plants, the state board identified a list of 27 outdoor plants and 18 indoor air purifying plants and decided to launch a massive plantation drive across all eight places in the state under the programme. Since the launch of the abhiyan, over two lakh air purifying outdoor and indoor saplings had been planted across the state, said member secretary of the board RK Pruthi.