Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board’s ultimatum notwithstanding, Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL) has not taken any visible steps to improve air quality in and around Dhanbad in the last one and a half years.

BCCL is yet to procure mechanical dust sweepers, or static and/or mobile dust sprinklers. Roads have not been “green-walled” as per the pollution board’s instructions.

Also, the display board of JSPCB’s lone air quality monitoring station at Digwadih in Jharia has been lying defunct since the last four months.

And funds to the tune of Rs 3 crore provided by the pollution board to Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) in January to launch a massive tree plantation drive and begin mechanized dust sweeping of roads are lying unutilised.

The display board at the air quality monitoring station which hasn’t been functioning for the last four months at Digwadih, Jharia, in Dhanbad on Wednesday. Picture by Gautam Dey

The lack of urgency is staggering on the part of both the civic body and the PSU as Jharia and Dhanbad are among the worst polluted towns of the country. Yet, Dhanbad is among 102 cities/towns under the National Clean Air Programme, under which pollution levels are to be curtailed by 35 per cent in three years.

Member of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board Rajiv Sharma said, “The situation is indeed pathetic as no step is in sight to control the situation. We will be discussing all the issues during Thursday’s meeting of JSPCB scheduled in Ranchi.”

Jharia based environmentalist Manoj Singh said, “We were very hopeful after the June 11, 2019 meeting of JSPCB in Ranchi after which BCCL prepared a Dhanbad Action Plan. As per the plan, the PSU was to undertake a massive tree plantation drive on mines overburden, establish a 24x7 air quality monitoring station in various areas and install static sprinklers at some of the polluted street corners of Dhanbad.”

A loaded truck spewing noxious fumes in Dhanbad on Wednesday. Picture by Gautam Dey

None of these steps, however, were taken, he said. “People are compelled to inhale the polluted air and become victims of various breathing related diseases like bronchitis, tuberculosis, etc,” said Singh, who is founder of social organisation Green Life.

Regional officer of JSPCB in Dhanbad Ram Narayan Chaudhary blamed procedural delays with regard to issuing tenders for the purchase of equipment like mobile dust sweepers and continuous air quality monitoring stations at BCCL. “However, some tree plantation has already been carried out at many mines overburden sites,” he said.

Chaudhary claimed that the air quality monitoring station of JBSPCB at Digwadih was able to record data, even though it had suffered a display issue. “Only the on-screen display system isn’t functioning. But the data is being fed to the Central Pollution Control Board regularly,” he claimed.