The Hindu : Report on environment next month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 20, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Report on environment next month

By Nagesh Prabhu

BANGALORE FEB. 19. After task force reports on administration, education, health, information technology, and women's empowerment, the Government has now decided to bring out a "state of environment" report next month.

The report will contain 14 chapters on different aspects that have a direct impact on environment. Issues such as biodiversity, energy, water, forestry, mining, health, air pollution, transportation, and urban planning will be discussed in detail in the report. The Department of Forests, Ecology, and Environment roped in experts from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), Bangalore, and the Centre for Multidisciplinary Development Research (CMDR), Dharwad, to prepare the report.

D.K. Subramanian, Secretary, Karnataka State Council for Science Technology of the IISc. and coordinator of the report, says the `State of Environment Report 2003' will suggest policy measures to improve the environment. Such a report was last published in 1984. He is writing a chapter on energy, which will contain issues such as deforestation caused due to the installation of power transmission lines, extensive use of firewood, and the setting up of thermal power plants. The inequity in distribution of power between rural and urban areas will also be probed, he adds.

Besides deforestation, disposal of nuclear waste from the Kaiga plant has polluted the soil in Uttar Kannada District. In Davangere and Chitraduga districts, air pollution is high due to the presence of puffed-rice manufacturing units. "The units operate during the day burning rubber tyres and husk to make puffed rice," Prof. Subramanian says. The soot and the smoke that envelop residential areas not only cause health problems for residents but also increase pollution level in cities, he adds.

Madhav Gadgil of the IISc. has been asked to write a chapter on biodiversity. It will discuss five key issues: erosion of coastal systems, pollution of rivers and tanks, protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries (there are 21 wildlife sanctuaries and five national parks in the State), the agro-economic system, and the urban economic system.

Harish R. Bhat, who is assisting Prof. Gadgil, says the chapter will discuss the causes of pollution of river and tank waters. In coastal districts, sand mining from riverbeds is common in summer. The sand is used mainly for construction. Extensive mining of sand causes damage to riverine ecology and depletes groundwater resources. The chapter will suggest practical measures to protect biodiversity, Mr. Bhat adds.

The noted environmental economist, Gopalkrishna Kadekodi of the CMDR, will write about water; Ramesh, a surgeon at Lakeview Hospital, about health and environment; experts from TERI about industrial and other forms of pollution; and those from the IIMB about urban planning, policy, and transportation, Prof. Subramanian says.

To gather first-hand information on various sensitive issues related to ecology, experts conducted a workshop last month at the National Institute of Technology, Surathkal. A large number of stakeholders and representatives of NGOs attended the meeting. The next workshop will be held in Bellary on February 24.

Issues related to mining at Sandur in Bellary District are likely to be raised by NGOs at the workshop, according to Mr. Bhat. Over 100 companies, including the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), are operating at Sandur.

Mining at Sandur has threatened wildlife and reduced the green cover. Some villages and towns are facing the problem of air pollution caused by iron-ore dust dispersed from trucks that carry it.

The loss of vegetative cover, soil erosion, and inadequate disposal of waste have threatened the biodiversity of Sandur.

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