By Express News Service
HYDERABAD: Smog engulfing and choking the national capital Delhi, in 2016 might be still fresh in the minds of people as it had raised widespread fear and concern on air pollution, among citizens of not just Delhi but across India. Will Hyderabad or other cities in Telangana have to grapple with such a dangerous scenario in the near future?
Chief Advisor to Telangana government and chairman of Telangana State Pollution Control Board, Dr Rajiv Sharma, has said that burning of crop residues has been observed in some parts of Telangana and stressed that the issue needs to be addressed soon to avoid harmful increase in air pollution levels, as faced by Delhi every year. Dr Sharma was speaking at the World Environment Day Conclave 2018 organized by The New Indian Express on Tuesday on the occasion of World environment Day, that witnessed 11 eminent experts from Hyderabad deliver talks on diverse environmental issues that pose a threat to Hyderabad in specific and the world at large.
With good support from the Telangana government, the former Chief Secretary said, there has been an increase in farm mechanisation in the state. ‘’However, along with it comes the burning of crop residues, which needs tweaking of policies and provision of incentives by the government, so that farmers avoid burning of crop residues.’’ A major contributing factor leading to the dangerous smog in Delhi, was burning of crop residues in the fields of Delhi’s neighbouring states like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh which causes a spike in the levels of air pollutants.
The Chief Advisor also pointed out various other environmental issues faced by cities in Telangana and across the country, including that of solid waste management. He said that even though there are directions from the Supreme Court and rules have been framed by the Central government on solid waste management, 100 percent segregation of waste at source is yet to be achieved. He pointed out how Telangana with an aim of achieving this, had distributed green and blue bins across Hyderabad.
Speaking on energy, Dr Sharma pointed out that Telangana is in the forefront in the country, in utilisation and increasing the capacity of solar power generation and the need to tackle challenges in energy sector.
Segregation of waste
Even though there are directions from the Supreme Court and rules have been framed by the Central government on solid waste management, 100 percent segregation of waste at source is yet to be achieved. The Telangana government with an aim of achieving this, had distributed green and blue binsacross Hyd
