Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL PONUTION OF ECOLOGY OF KORBA REGION

MEDHA MAHAJAN, A. CHAKRABORTY, V. VADINI, V. P. DESHPANDE AND S.D. BADRINATH

Abstract

The industry in India has been diversifying into capital and energy intensive sectors which are also the most polluting. There is also a high growth of small scale industries due to government policies of promotion of small enterprise to deal with the problems of rural urban migration. This sector has proved to be even more problematic in terms of environment protection The problem of environment management has acquired the status of a complex issue in India where poverty and under development is common and rapid industrialization is obligatory to obviate backlog in socio-economic equivity. Not withstanding natural process of self purification, the quantum of residues from developmental pursuits has overwhelmed the regenerative capacity of our environment. In this context, the present paper deals with the study of effects of industrial pollution on ecology of Korba region. The ambient environment of this industrial area is contaminated with several pollutants emitted from different sources like thermal power plants, integrated aluminium complex, and other small scale factories. This region was having one of the most diversified flora and fauna. But gradually the bio diversity has declined due to increase in industrial pollution. To assess the impact of the industrial pollution, forest studies were conducted to establish baseline status of the environment in terms of diversity index, equitibility index and importance value index of individual species in different forests. The comparison of baseline data shows that the Bela and Kesla forests which are nearer to industrial setup are more prone to injury and diseases than Chuhiya forest which is away from the pollutant emitting zone.