Hindu Samiti, How Can Burning 50,000 kg of Wood Curb Pollution?

A Hindu group is burning 50,000 kg of mango wood in Meerut over the next nine days “to reduce pollution.” In this edition of news that's so funny it sounds like a joke, the UP Pollution Control Board says, “This will definitely cause pollution. But there is little that we can do.”

*Slow claps* Kya baat hai!

Dear Shri Ayutchandi Mahayagya Samiti, I have a question.

Let's Do Some Maths, Shall We?

Burning one kg of wood releases 403 grams of CO2 in the air.
Burning one quintal or 100 kg of wood releases 40.3 kg of CO2 in the air.
Therefore, burning 500 quintals of wood releases 20,150 kg of CO2 in the air.

So dear environment-loving Mahayagya Samiti, are you saying that you’re going to emit over 20,000 kg of carbon dioxide into the air we breathe – to help purify the air we breathe?

Before you say these numbers are fake – they’re not. These conversion factors are from the World Health Organisation.

Oh and wait, this gets worse.

You know what else will be released into the air thanks to the burning of 500 quintals of mango wood? 1,875 kg of carbon monoxide and more than 100 kg of particulate matter.

From 8 am to 7 pm, 11 hours every day, for nine days – you will pollute the air in Meerut. Adding carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and worst of all, particulate pollutants into the air… and on top of that, there’ll be a lot of residual ash left behind.

Aur yeh saara pollution hum kar rahe hai pollution kam karne ke liye – ekdum gazab logic!

A Reminder to the UP Pollution Control Board

At this point, you’re asking – wait, isn’t there a pollution control board in Uttar Pradesh?

Yes, there is.

But here’s what RK Tyagi, regional officer of the UP Pollution Control Board in Meerut, told The Times of India, “Burning such large quantities of wood will definitely cause pollution. But there is no policy under which a probe can be issued in this matter – so there is little that we can do. It will also be inappropriate for me to comment on the event.”

Inappropriate for you to comment on the event? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s what pollution control bodies are supposed to do. Comment, AND ACT!

“There is no policy under which a probe can be issued on this matter?” You’re wrong again. Because that is just not true.

Here’s what the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 says:

• The state pollution control board has the power to take samples of the air or the emission from any outlet in the state.
• The Board can also conduct a search of any place in which there is reason to believe that an offence under this Act is being committed.
• And finally, the Board has the power to make an application in court for restraining any person from causing air pollution.

These are not my words. These are the words of an Act passed by the Parliament of India.

And a reminder to the UP Pollution Control Board – shirking work by claiming “there is no policy” won’t fool anyone. There’s more than a policy, there’s legislation that demands you do your job.

Meerut’s Air Quality Woes

The air quality in Meerut has been reported to be more threatening at times than the air quality in Delhi, and we all know how bad that is. A survey by the Centre for Science and Environment in September 2016 found that PM2.5 and PM10 levels in inner Meerut were more than thrice the permissible limits.

Even the NGT’s issued notices in 2017 to the Centre and the UP government over the worrying pollution levels in Meerut.

Is UP Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath listening? Is the UP Pollution Control Board acting?

Because if anything can be done to reduce pollution in Meerut, it most definitely won’t be the burning of 500 quintals of mango wood.

Empowered by Our Laws, Weakened by Our Lawmakers?

Dear Mahayagya Samiti, this yagya is being conducted in the name of “curbing pollution”. If you’re serious about the intent, then this definitely isn’t the way to get there.

And to those watching the video and trolling me already – if you’re making the argument that the pollution control board shouldn’t interfere with religious practices, well here’s what the Constitution says.

Article 25, which enshrines our fundamental right to practice religion says,

Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.

Subject to public health, see? So, our constitutional bodies and pollution control boards are well empowered to ask the organisers of the yagya to stop this environmentally damaging practice.

My question today is – do they have the will to do so?

Video editor: Purnendu Preetam
Cameraperson: Shiv Maurya