A day after the Centre claimed there was no conclusive data to link deaths to air pollution, Greenpeace today said that the government should not waste time on debating the "already established" link and should take "urgent and corrective" action.
A day after the Centre claimed there was no conclusive data to link deaths to air pollution, Greenpeace today said that the government should not waste time on debating the "already established" link and should take "urgent and corrective" action.
The green body, which had recently claimed in a study that nearly 12 lakh deaths take place every year due to air pollution in the country, said that they would like to see a "little less" conversation and a greater determination towards resolving the problem.
"Greenpeace has responded by urging that the Environment Ministry to waste no more time on debating the already-established links between increasing deaths and ill-health due to air pollution while stressing the need for urgent, corrective action instead," a statement said.
Dave, in written reply to a question in Parliament yesterday, said that there is no conclusive data available in the country to establish direct correlationship of death exclusively with air pollution.
Health effects of air pollution are synergistic manifestation of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity etc of the individuals. Air pollution could be one of the triggering factors for respiratory associated ailments and diseases, he had said.
"We are well past the stage of discussing what may have caused this nation-wide epidemic of poor health and compromised childhoods - instead of picking at the data, and the sources for it, government agencies need to come up with a clear, national action plan.
"We are glad that the Airpocalypse report was discussed in the Rajya Sabha, but we would like to see a little less conversation, and a greater determination towards resolving the problem," said Sunil Dahiya, Greenpeace India campaigner.
The Greenpeace India's report 'Airpocalypse' had said Delhi tops the list of 20 most polluted cities in the country where 12 lakh deaths take place every year due to air pollution. It also claimed that none of the 168 cities it assessed complies with air quality standards prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Bhargav Krishna of People Health Foundation of India and one the authors of the Health Ministry's steering committee report on air pollution and health related issues said the health evidence necessary to take policy action has already been well documented by the Health Ministry's committee.
"What is necessary at this stage is to chart the road ahead to address what is a national issue that threatens to deflate India s demographic dividend," the Greenpeace India statement quoting him said. (MORE)
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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