Itcovers the shiny white of St. Andrew's Church, it defaces the greens of Vascoyet years of constant pollution by coal and even fine iron ore dust has sneakedquietly into Vasco's lungs.
Surprisingly,neither the anti-Coal protestors nor the Coal importers talk of checking thehealth of those affected by coal pollution day in and day out. The dust travelsup and down the blood stream much beyond the permissible limit.
Sinceinception of coal handling in Vasco for nearly one and half decade ago, most ofthe successive MPT chairmen and Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) chiefhave acknowledged that manual coal handling berth no 10 and 11 are notoriousfor coal dust pollution.
TheMormugao Port User Association (MPUA), who have been assigned to monitoringcoal dust pollution at berth no 10 and 11, is often embarrassed with reportsfrom National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and privatelabs monitoring dust pollution and asses its impact on surrounding areas,particularly in Vasco have said that coal dust pollution is beyond thepermissible limit in Vasco.
Theanalysis conducted for Particulate Matter (PM) PM10 and PM2.5 as they are basedon their size at five different places - Colaco Arcade, MPT Institute, LaxmiTemple, Near Sai Narayan Apartment and Mother Mercy High School, Vaddem haveshown beyond permissible limits.
"Themore vulnerable to pollution is workers working at coal handling berth no 10and 11 and people residing within one kilometers radius from berths, thus it isvery essential that GSPCB must carry medical surveillance," said Dr. ShamLawande, a Specialist on Industrial Health.
Hesaid that even though medical survey is carried one might not get symptomsquickly since these symptoms are traced in long run nearly after four to fiveyears since inhaling coal dust is slow poison. "Supposedly, people whohave been exposed to coal dust for continue five to seven years then certainlythese people have high risk of pulmonary dieses," adds Lawande
"Itcauses serious health problems like asthma, lung cancer and heart disease toworkers engaged in coal handing and survey is essential," said Lawande.
"Astudy published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) saysparticles smaller than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) can penetrate the gas-exchangeareas of the lungs, and cause high plaque deposits in arteries, vascularinflammation and atherosclerosis, leading to heart disease," saidPetitioner Concern Citizens of Vasco Adv T T Shreedharan.
"Wehave been insisting time and again to MPT and State govt. to ensure thatmedical surveillance is carried in venerable areas of within one kilometersradius of coal handling berth but our repeated effort have been falling on deafyears," said advocate TT Shreedharan of the Concern Citizens ofVasco. "Forget about medical surveillance, the basic guidelines ofhandling coal stacking so high, water sprinklers, planting tree among other arenot fulfilled," said Shreedharan.
