Air pollution costing economy Rs 3.75L crore a year: World Bank

NEW DELHI: Only outdoor air pollution in urban areas claims 1.09 lakh lives of adults, another 7,513 of children below 5 years annually, says a latest report of World Bank. The study released on Wednesday revealed that the annual cost of environmental degradation in India is about Rs 3.75 lakhcrores, which is equivalent to 5.7% of country's GDP. The study commissioned by the Central government has brought out how urban growth centres in the country are choking and claims that outdoor and indoor air pollution have the maximum share of this annual burden on India's economy. According to the estimates of the multilateral bank, outdoor air pollution accounts for 29%, followed by indoor air pollution (23%), cropland degradation (19%), water supply and sanitation (14%), pasture (11%) and forest degradation (4%). This first ever national level economic assessment of environmental degradation in India focuses on particle pollution (PM10) from burning of fossil fuels, which has serious health consequences amounting up to 3% of India's GDP along with losses due to lack of access to clean water supply, sanitation and hygiene besides natural resources depletion. The indoor air pollution is mainly due to burning of wood, mainly in rural India. PM10 stands for Particulate Matter up to 10 micrometers in size and include smoke, dirt and dust from factories, construction sites, farming and roads. According to the bank, annually over 3.7 lakh hospital admissions are reported in India due to outdoor air pollution in urban areas. Bank's environmental economist Muthukumara Mani said, "The productive part of the population that gets impacted from air pollution in cities, if you can save them, it is going to add up in terms of productivity, in terms of GDP," he stated. The study claims that nearly 25% of child mortality cases in India can be attributed to environmental degradation and due to inadequate availability of clean water and sanitation. Mani said that small steps can help improve the situation in a big way. "Improving the efficiency of a power plant, which is a major cause of air pollution in India. For example, washing coal is a simple process - not too expensive - which can also help in not only improving the efficiency of coal, but also save a lot of lives," he said. According to the report, India can make green growth a reality by putting in place strategies to reduce environmental degradation at the minimal cost of.02% to .04% of average annual GDP growth rate. The World Bank has already put out such assessments for countries like Ghana and China, and hopes Centre will realize that there cannot be trade-off between economic growth and protecting country's natural resources and citizens' health.   TNN