Maharashtra government wakes up, Taloja hub to get air monitors

NAVI MUMBAI: With the National Green Tribunal (NGT) keeping close tabs on pollution due to the chemical hub at Taloja, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has decided to set up two Continuous Ambient Air Quality (CAAQ) monitoring stations.
The hub was established in 1972, according to Taloja manufacturers association, and the monitoring stations are being installed only now, more than four decades later. So far, the air quality checks at the hub had been manual.
MPCB regional officer Anant Harshvardhan had written to the board in April, seeking installation of CAAQ stations. Now, air quality will be checked continuously, and more varieties of pollutants can be measured. The readings will put the severity of pollution due to particulate matters in air in public domain.
Locals and industry stakeholders welcomed the decision. Taloja Industries' Association president Satish Shetty, who heads the common effluent treatment plant society and attended a meeting called by environment minister Ramdas Kadam to discuss setting up of the stations, said, "The minister was rather serious about the problem due to polluting units in Taloja."
Over 950 units operate at the hub and around 40% are chemical factories, according to Shetty. The MPCB has in the past rated over 50% industries in Mumbai Metropolitan Region in the 'very poor' to 'poor' categories for emitting PM 2.5 above the prescribed limit.
Residents of Taloja and nearby Kharghar have been complaining of foul air and thick haze. Associations have also been complaining of difficulty in breathing.