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| Ultraviolet net barricade wall erected in Paradip port to prevent air pollution. Telegraph picture |
Paradip, July 14: The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has started putting up ultraviolet net barricade around the township to tackle dust pollution.
The Rs 8-crore project is being executed after the Odisha State Pollution Control Board and House committee of the Assembly pulled up port authorities last year.
The Assembly committee had expressed concern over growing pollution level and called for a comprehensive environment management plan in and around the port town.
“The PPT has installed ultraviolet net barricade to stop pollution emission from the port’s restricted area. The net-barricade will plug dispersing of dusty particles in the air. The dust particles, emanating from ores transported to the port, were a constant source of pollution,” port trust chairman S. Ananth Kumar Bose told The Telegraph.
Paradip port is the third major port in the country to have put to use net barricade as part of its pollution control measures. Ultraviolet net installation had earlier been made at the major ports in Chennai and Tuticori, Bose said.
“The barricade structures are 12-metre high, of which the netted portions are 10-metre long. A stretch of 1.23-km from Gate No. 3 to Atharananki has been covered under the barricade. The barricade structures were installed with the port’s restricted areas, where sizeable bulk of cargo handling takes place. The nets are mono-filament yarn having in-built apertures and opening for passage of air and absorption of dust particles,” said executive engineer of harbour No. 2 of Paradip port Gangadhar Sethy.
“The installation of net-barricade was a timely step by the PPT. Because of dusty layer in air, the respiratory ailments and disorders were on the rise in the port township,” said chief medical officer of Biju Memorial Hospital, Paradip, Dilip Kumar Biswal.
“The PPT should take the lead in maintaining environment standard. The growing industrial zone and expansion of the port are bound to trigger more air and water pollution in this town. That’s why, there is an immediate need for the launch of a comprehensive environment management plan in this region,” said Paradip MLA Damodar Rout.
