Team Herald

PANJIM: Reeling under criticism for pollution in villages, mining companies, dissatisfied with the ambient air quality monitoring by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), have roped in Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad, to identify the main source of emission along the iron ore transportation routes. 

Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association (GMOEA), an umbrella organisation of ore exporters, approached Indian Institute of Technology – ISM, to visit all iron ore mining clusters and familiarise themselves with the transport routes so as to collect background information on details of sources and emissions.

Recently, the Board had found discrepancies in the readings of the stations installed by them and the mining companies at Sonshi. Thereafter, mining firms in their representation to the Board had said that only an independent agency could give a true picture of air quality in these clusters, which the Board had agreed to.

“The suggestion from the mining firms was to have an independent institution prepare a framework on ambient air quality monitoring,” GMOEA Secretary Glen Kalavampara said.

ISM has been asked to provide information on the number and distribution of monitoring locations. This includes meteorological data with respect to temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction and topographical Information. It has been suggested that ISM use previous information collected on ambient air quality to select the areas that should be monitored.

The distribution of the monitoring locations should deliver the objective of capturing the ambient air quality around the mines buffer zones and transport routes and offer Comparability of the monitoring locations.

The mining industry had recently come in for sharp criticism following protests by Sonshi villagers over increasing dust pollution in their locality due to transportation of iron ore. Mining firms and GSPCB were also at the loggerheads over the latter’s high pollution readings.