Bhubaneswar: The Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has an important role to play in promoting clean air, safe drinking water and a healthy environment and progressing towards sustainable development.
The Pollution Control Board monitors the air quality, fumes emitted from industrial plants, various polluting vapors, waste materials, water in rivers, lakes, ponds, ground water and sea etc. and takes necessary action and advises.
With advanced technologies, it is now possible to monitor the quality of the environment from remote locations in real-time. Chief Administrative Secretary and OSPCB Chairman Manoj Ahuja today issued necessary instructions and suggestions to improve the system to make it more effective as its monitoring and surveillance system is the main function of the board in controlling environmental pollution.
The 131st council meeting of the State Pollution Control Board was held today. In the meeting, the Chief Secretary reviewed the various functions of the Board and emphasized on OSPCB to prepare and implement a comprehensive strategy to solve environmental problems in various sectors.
Pollution Control Board Member Secretary Dr. K. Murugesan and other members of the board were present. Dr.Murugesan outlined the deliberation points, which were discussed threadbare.
In the meeting, the decision and implementation of the 130th council meeting of the board held on 29.2.2024 was discussed and the annual report of 2022-23 and 2023-24 was presented to the board for approval.
In addition, a presentation was made to the Odisha State Pollution Control Board for the year 2023-2024 regarding the approval of funds and expenditure. In the meeting, it has been proposed to set up a Center for Environment Monitoring and Data Analysis under the Board.
It is informed that this center will help in facilitating the decision related to environmental management by monitoring system, various projects and analyzing data to control environmental pollution. Along with this, the board was proposed to engage PhD research students in research, development and coastal cell projects, while the proposal to arrange funds for biomedical waste management was also discussed.