Workshop discusses UP Clean Air Management Project
LUCKNOW: The department of environment, forest and climate change, UP in collaboration with the World Bank, organized a two-day programme to discuss the proposed UP Clean Air Management Project (UP-CAMP) and to chalk out ways to curb the fast-increasing pollution levels in districts.
Arun Kumar Saxena, minister of state (independent charge) environment, forest and climate change, UP was the chief guest and KP Malik, minister of state was the guest of honour. “Air pollution is a grave issue which is also causing serious health hazards. It is also observed that treatment of pollution-caused diseases is difficult, hence the focus should be more on prevention than cure. In present times when air pollution is on the rise, government departments and corporate sectors should team up to fight the issue,” said Arun Kumar Saxena, while addressing the gathering at the programme on day one.
Ashish Tiwari, secretary, department of environment, forest & climate change, UP said the state was in the heart of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) which was a global hotspot of air pollution.
“The factors responsible for air pollution also include longrange background pollution from the areas falling in the air shed which is outside the cities and the state,” said Tiwari. Though the efforts to deal with the pollution had been made through city-level interventions under the City Clean Air Action Plans, they did not address the issues of background pollution, he said. “Realizing the background contribution in the air pollution of cities, the state has been a pioneer in formulation of Uttar Pradesh Clean Air Action Plan (UCAP) on adopting an “air shed” approach under technical support of the World Bank. The World Bank has proposed to provide financial assistance to the state for implementation of air shed-based UCAP,” he added.
Officials said this workshop was also part of the development for a 2022 Uttar Pradesh Clean Air Action Plan (UCAP).