Lecture highlights ways to control air pollution

Nagpur: The Indian Water Works Association organized a lecture on air pollution control at the thermal power plant at the Indian Water Works Association Hall, Shankar Nagar, on Wednesday. The lecture focused on the ill effects of Air Pollution and the main sources and causes of it. It also debated various measures to control the emission of harmful gases and reducing man-made pollutants in the atmosphere.
The lecture was initiated by Dr Sandeep Shukla, the programme coordinator who welcomed Dr Vasant Mhaisalkar, chairman, and Onkar Mukherjee, secretary, with a sapling each and encouraged them to plant trees on the auspicious occasion of World Environment Day.
He explained the importance of preserving the environment and the detrimental effects of pollution on nature. “Air Pollution is increasing day by day and its effects on humans and plants have been seen in the past decade and it upsets me that it is not positive,” he said.
Keynote speaker, Dr Ritesh Kamal Singh, who is a senior chemist, said, “An average person breathes around 20,000 litres of air per day, 99.5 of which is nitrogen and oxygen. The rest is a mixture of gases and particles which are harmful pollutants.”
Elaborating his point further, he took the help of three presentations to portray how adverse the situation is. “Pollution has increased to such an extent that it is interfering with our daily lives. Respiratory problems, skin irritation and asthma are considered to be normal now,” he added.
He said, “ Efforts are on to ensure that pollution emanating from various power plants are at least reduced a bit. A variety of clean technologies are being deployed or experimented with. Lessons are being learnt from super critical power plants that emit lesser pollutants.”
Vasant Mhaisalkar thanked the chief guest. This was followed by an open forum where the audience put forth their comments. Onkar Mukherjee prooposed a vote of thanks.
(Reporting by Shristi Sankrit)