Patna, Feb. 6: The new Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB) building in Patliputra Industrial Area will definitely make you go green, with envy if not environmentally.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar will inaugurate Parivesh Bhavan, BSPCB's new address, on February 20. The five-storeyed building is equipped with high-tech laboratories and testing centres, which would monitor air, noise and water pollution. These should come in handy in a city declared after a WHO survey last May as the second most polluted city after Delhi in India.
Officials said though the new building will be inaugurated on February 20, the board will continue to operate from its existing office till the entire set-up is shifted to the new building. At present, the board functions from the second and third floors of Beltron Bhavan in Shashtri Nagar.
However, the lease for this office is going to expire in a few months.
"The new building will be equipped with state-of-the-art technologies," BSPCB chairman Subhash Chandra Singh said. "It would great help us monitor pollution and control works efficiently."
Sources said Parivesh Bhavan was built by the Infrastructure Development Authority, a state government agency. Nitish had laid the foundation stone for the building in November 2013.
"The new building has a central laboratory and workshop centre and a number of observatories," said a senior board official. "Lots of equipment will also be taken to the new address from the existing office. Some new equipment would be brought once operations start in a full-fledged manner at the new address."
Pollution, especially air and noise pollution has become a serious problem in Patna over the past few years. The pollution control board had, in its advisory issued on December 14 last year, said that air quality index (AQI) of Patna crossed the 400-mark in November-December, breaking all past records in the city.
AQI is an assessment of the air quality, taking into account eight pollutants: PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 10 micron) , PM10 (particulate matter less than 10 micron), nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, ammonia and lead.
The annual average of PM10 - termed as respiratory suspended particulate matter- in Patna - in Patna in 2014-15 was more than three times the national limit. Against the prescribed standard of 60 micrograms per cubic metres, the corresponding actual annual average of PM10 in the city stood at 185.85. It was 152 the year before (2013-14). PM10 invades lungs and triggers respiratory diseases and even cancer.
Patna High Court has taken cognisance of rising levels of air and noise pollution in the city. While hearing a petition on the issue of rising levels of noise pollution, the high court had slammed the state government for failing to implement prescribed norms.
