Six lakh people die due to air pollution every year, said chairman of West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), Dr Kalyan Rudra. Dr Rudra said this in his speech at the Sampriti Hall in Burnpur Steel Township in a workshop on Mission Life. The average life span of people is also reduced to almost two years, due to massive air pollution in recent times, added Dr Rudra. The West Bengal Pollution Control Board has undertaken an ambitious project to curb the growing air pollution in the state by setting up a green corridor from Jhargram to Birbhum, the WBPCB chairman said.

“ It will be a one of its kind project in the world. From June this year the tree plantation work wil start as part of this dream project and will continue till the next five to six years,” Dr. Rudra said. All the stakeholders will work together for this green corridor project from this monsoon season. At present the work for identification of the land where these plantations will take place for the green corridor has been going on in the entire stretch, he added. Special Secretary of state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department, Mayuri Basu, Commissioner of Police of ADPC, Sunil Kumar Choudhury were also present on the occasion. During the event, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board distributed 125 smokeless chulhas.

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Special Projects have been undertaken to distribute chulhas in Kolkata and Howrah areas. So far WBPCB has distributed 1500 smokeless chulhas, which are made of special steel to reduce the carbon footprint. The chairman also said that the Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol is also helping the WBPCB in its project to control air pollution. A list has been prepared by Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC) through which the street side vendors will be trained on using the smokeless chulhas .

The smokeless chulhas are able to reduce about 80 to 90 per cent of carbon emission into the air and are also less expensive than the gas chullahs. About the present situation of air pollution in Asansol, the oldest industrial township in the state he said that in the past one year the situation has worsened and it is waiting for a final report and data from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi in June this year.