Bhubaneswar: Odisha led the way in 1977 in demanding a parliament enacted legislation for preventing pollution of air. Such an initiative and demand was made by people of Ganjam Panchayat in 1977 when they submitted a petition to the Rajya Sabha Petition Committee drawing the attention of the highest legislature of our country to the pollution of air and water caused by Jayashree Chemicals which produced chlorine gas. At that time Shri Brahmananda Panda was the Chairman of that Committee. That demand of the people of Ganjam Panchayat for a legislation to prevent pollution of air should be seen in the context of the growing air pollution of our time in cities and town making life miserable. Abundance of air has always been taken for granted because of the generosity of nature in making it available in plenty.
The alarming levels of pollution has generated a massive breathing crisis never seen in history of humanity. The very survival of life is at stake because of the toxicity of air growing at a faster pace due to several factors.
It is educative to know that people of Ganjam panchayat submitted the petition to Parliament in 1977 demanding legislation at the level of the Union to prevent pollution of air. It is the first petition submitted to Parliament at the heart of which remained Pollution and particularly air pollution.. Later the Prevention of Air Pollution Legislation was enacted and it entered the statute book.
It is important to flag such issues to catalogue the historic initiatives of the people of Odisha.
The text of the petition is illuminating and the report of the Petition Committee of Rajya Sabha is equally educative. All such developments preceding initiatives at the global level needs to be studied.