Residents of Guwahati responsible for pollution in the city: Ashok Singhal

Assam Irrigation Minister Ashok Singhal on January 24 said that illegal boring activities are rampant in Guwahati it is the residents who are responsible for the pollution.

“There is a lot of unauthorized boring going on all over Guwahati. The city is polluted by the same people who live here.”Singhal said. 

Speaking at a convention of Central Ground Water Board underway at Hotel Vivanta in Guwahati Ashok Singhal said that Groundwater levels are declining at an alarming rate across India and in the past year, several tests have been conducted in this regard.

Singhal further said, “Of these experiments, we have and will continue to hold discussions on the successful aspects.”
Guwahati's air quality has stayed in the Very Poor' category for three consecutive days since January 14, as per the daily Air Quality Index (AQI) bulletin published by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Guwahati's air quality has stayed above 350 AQI since Saturday, in the daily average AQI of Indian cities which was shared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on their official website, while Byrnihat's air quality entered the 'Severe' category as it recorded an AQI of 420 on January 16.

On January 14, Guwahati's average AQI was at 320, which increased to 375 on January 15 and stayed at 363 on January 16
Guwahati ranked fourth in the most polluted places in India on January 16 after Byrnihat, Bettiah and Siwan.

An AQI number above 301 falls in the 'Very Poor' category, which causes respiratory illnesses on prolonged exposure, according to the CPCB website. The daily average AQI of Guwahati is recorded at 4 PM every day in the four monitoring stations around the city.

Earlier on 5th January , The Pollution Control Board, Assam (PCBA) has notified that it will no longer grant 'consent to establish' approval to any brick kiln in the State which does not use piped natural gas as fuel or has not been established with 'zig-zag' technology. A Notification issued recently by the PCBA in this context stated that this step is being taken in accordance with an earlier Notification issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) last year pertaining to revised environmental standards for brick kilns.