kant: Pollution in Mumbai: Kant identifies oil refineries, waste incineration as major factors | Daily News Byte

Amid poor air quality ahead of the G-20 working group meeting in the financial capital, top government officials on Monday said long-term measures are needed to help reduce pollution in the megapolis. Speaking at the meeting, Mr. G-20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant of India said that two oil refineries operated by state-owned enterprises have pledged to reduce the emission of liquid sulfur and other sulfur gases in the next 2-3 months.

Mr. Kant said that IC Chahal, the commissioner of the civic body, raised the issue of emissions from the state’s oil refinery with him. Then he took the matter up with the Secretary General of Petroleum.

The second refinery is a modern factory that does not emit smoke, but gives off sulfur dioxide, Kant said, citing information provided to him.

“In the case of the Mumbai refinery, the SOx emissions are well within the prescribed standard of 10.43 ppm,” Kant said, adding that the refinery has committed to reducing emissions in the short term. Stating that long-term measures such as switching to electric mobility were needed to alleviate the problem, Kant also identified other problems.

He said that the challenges in Mumbai are different from the challenges in New Delhi, which are still difficult.

“One of the challenges is that the Deonar landfill (is) still close to the water refinery that needs to be stopped.

“Tata Electric has two stacks (located) south of Chembur and behind BARC, which should be converted to a cleaner model,” added Kant.

It can be noted that the Deonar landfill is a widely discussed issue, while he seems to be referring to Tata Power’s 930 MW coal-fired thermal power plant at Trombay as well.

Mr. Kant said in the 4-day conference that will start on Tuesday, he will try to reach a consensus. along with the green development agreement and added that the country is changing its lifestyle for the sake of the environment.

The Working Group on Development, which will begin its meeting on Tuesday in Mumbai, is the custodian of the G-20’s development agenda, and India will showcase the human-centered Sustainable Development Goals implemented through interventions such as direct benefit transfers, he said.

Mr. Kant said that until now, developed countries have set the agenda for others and the main purpose of the president. India’s G-20, which will last until September 2023, is to represent the voices of the global south on the platform. world and seek change.

Organizations like the United Nations cannot drive change because it is very difficult to reach a consensus, where the G-20 helps, he added.

Mr. Kant also said that there must be a better multilateral financial institution, saying that various organizations such as The World Bank and the IMF were established after the Second World War and now the world has changed.