World Bank warns of the environmental costs of India growth story

New Delhi, Apr 10 (UNI) The World Bank today rang the warning bells that the India growth story may impose a cost on the environment, unless of course future policy takes this into account.

The Indian economy growing at a rate of more than eight per cent in the past two years will put unpredented pressures on its land, water, air, soil and forestry resources, a bank report released here today said.

The Report says rapid economic growth has brought about a dramtic change in the consumption patterns imposing enormous stress on the the country's environment and natural resources.

The Report lists industries which can be major polluters of the environment. These include high growth sectors like electronics and information technology and others which have a high polluting content. These include textiles, pharmaceuticals and basic chemicals-- the red category-- according to the report.

These sectors are significantly polluting water and air and resulting in hazardous waste.

Increased investment in the housing and construction sectors, is leading to growth of the mining and iron and steel sectors, with the mushrooming of brick-making units, iron plants and steel mills. Some of these have hugely polluting processes.

The report says a casualty of this is the deteriorating environmental quality of industrial townships. In this regard, it cites the example of Singrauli, which until the 1960s was an isolated rural region but is now dotted with massive open-cast coal mines, thermal power stations and several large industries.

This development had brought disruption in traditional ways of life, displacing up to 3,00,000 people, and resulting in lack of adequate infrastructure and public amenities.

Apart from air and water pollution, the presence of mercury in the food chain and other chemicals and heavy metals in water resources poses a formidable threat to the health of people, the report adds.

UNI