Polluted Air A Silent Killer In Present World, Say Experts At Bhubaneswar’s SOA Programme

Bhubaneswar: Polluted air has emerged as a silent killer around the world due to unchecked polluting contributors to the environment, said experts.

They were speaking on issues like air pollution and impacts of climate change in a six-day faculty development programme organised at the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), faculty of engineering and technology of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) in Bhubaneswar.

Experts from top academic and research institutions in the country were the resource persons who deliberated on the subject “Sustainable Chemistry for Environmental Protection” conducted by ITER’s Department of Chemistry.

Dr Harish Phuleria of IIT Bombay, who was one of the resource persons, focused on the quality of air and asked, “Should we worry about the air we breathe?” Dubbing polluted air as the silent killer, he cited recent episodes of air pollution while highlighting the direct and indirect effect of air pollutants on human health.

Dr Sasmita Chaurasia from ISRO, Ahmedabad, spoke on the applications of remote sensing to study the impact of climate change and various techniques of remote sensing and their application in environmental issues.

Prof Sanjay Kumar Nayak, vice-chancellor of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack and Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of SOA were among the prominent speakers at the programme.