Humans have reached a stage when they can use science and technology to drastically transform their surroundings to match their requirements. Though this tremendous development in science and technology have no doubt benefited the societal well being in countless ways but one of the problems it has brought in its trail is Pollution.

Pollution in common parlance means presence of wrong matter in wrong quality and at a wrong place. Air, one of the most important elements of nature and life support base on earth, is affected most by this adverse phenomenon.

The genesis of pollution begins with the story of urbanization. During the 20th century air pollution once considered a local problem has assumed shape of a global one. The most common air pollutants are: SOx, NOx, CO, CO2, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and lead (Pb). The toxic nature of these pollutants and their high concentrations in many industrialized regions in India are posing serious concerns, both in terms of human health and damage to man-made structures and to India’s ecology in general. A study reveals that 52,000 people die prematurely in 36 Indian cities ever year.

The three major sources of air pollution are: Industrial emission, Domestic emission and Vehicular emission. The quality of ambient air especially in urban areas in India has been deteriorating rapidly over the past few decades mainly due to vehicular and industrial emissions.

 

Pollutants	Health effects
CO (from gasoline cars, 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers)	Fatal in large doses, aggravates heart disorders, adversely affects central nervous system, impairs oxygen carrying capacity of blood
Nitrogen dioxide (from diesel vehicles)	Irritation of respiratory tract
Ozone	Eye, nose and throat irritation, risk asthamatics, children and those involved in heavy exercise
Lead (from petrol vehicles)	Extremely toxic: effects nervous system and blood, can impair mental development of children, causes hypertension
Hydro Carbon (mainly from 2-wheelers and 3-wheelers)	Drowsiness, eye irritation, coughing
Benzene	Carcinogenic
Aldehydes	Irritation of eyes, nose and throat, sneezing, coughing, nausea, breathing difficulties, carcinogenic in animals
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (from diesel vehicle)	Carcinogenic

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forests

Industry emission
In the industrial sector, fossil fuels especially coal remains one of the major contributors of air pollution in the form of suspended particulates like fly ash and soot. Industrial activity is responsible for release of SO2 and NOx and suspended particular matter in the air. According to the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests the ambient air quality status derived from a network of 290 stations covering 90 towns/cities in recent years indicates that while SPM is consistently critical in many cities, the concentration of NOx, and SOx, is increasing and is already transiting from Moderate to High to Critical Levels.

Domestic emission
In India, in rural and urban slums individuals perform their daily cooking in small, enclosed areas and often use some form of biomass. These fuels often do not burn cleanly and emit many types of toxic gases like carbon monoxide, which when inhaled in these close quarters, can have deleterious health effects. Although the overall consumption of biomass is increasing at a slower rate than overall fuel consumption, indoor air pollution also presents growing concern because of the very large number of population inhabiting rural and urban slums. Apart from this air is also polluted by burning of degradable and non degradable mass. The non degradable mass when burnt emits deadly toxins in the air.

Vehicular emission
The exponential growth in vehicles per person has made this sector the largest contributor of the air pollution. As increase in road capacity has failed to keep pace with the increasing number of vehicles, it is often resulting in over-congestion. Such congestion exacerbates the problem of air pollution and causes decrease in vehicle fuel efficiency. Petrol driven vehicles are responsible for emission of unburned carbon, hydro carbon and Carbon Monoxide.

The government has taken a number of measures by way of legislations, setting emission standards for industries, environmental audits and Environment Impact Assessments. However, the effectiveness of such measures remains questionable without adequate stakeholder involvement and participation.

Some steps taken by Amby Valley
Being an environmentally responsible company, Sahara has already initiated the following measures to minimise air pollution at Amby Valley:

• Promoting use of mass transit facility for its employees by providing company operated vehicles
  
• Taking special care to maintain good road conditions at and around Amby Valley for achieving better fuel efficiency and lower emission
  
• Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificate made mandatory for all vehicles being operated at Amby Valley
  
• Giving preference to battery operated zero emission vehicles inside Amby Valley
  
• Monitoring ambient air quality regularly
  
• Evaluating the prospect of using better quality fuels viz. low sulphur diesel.