Bengal has ranked 26th out of 29 states in environmental performance in a recent analysis by the Delhi-based magazine Down to Earth, which focuses on environment matters.
Seven parameters were considered for the analysis — change of forest cover, share of municipal waste treated, share of total sewage treated, change in installed grid renewable power, percentage change in number of polluted river stretches, groundwater extraction status and status of water body violation.
In the study, Bengal scored only 37 per cent, or 3.7 out of 10, and was just above Bihar, Nagaland and Rajasthan.
The analysis, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, was done on the basis of the available Union government data from 2020-22.
A researcher associated with the report said key parameters like air pollution were missing from the study.
According to the report, Bengal did very poorly in municipal waste management, scoring less than 5 per cent. In sewage treatment and renewable energy, it scored 8 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. The score in forest cover maintenance was around 30 per cent.
Bengal scored well in the water sectors — groundwater extraction (about 70 per cent), prevention of water body violation (about 80 per cent) and reducing pollution in rivers (89 per cent).
“While ranking the states on environmental performance, our effort was to build a robust system based on key indicators. Since data is as credible as the source, how it is collected and collated, we used the latest data from government sources,” said Sunita Narain, editor, Down to Earth.
Telangana topped the list with 72 per cent, followed by Gujarat and Goa with 66 and 64 per cent, respectively.
Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh have done well in reducing river pollution.
Bengal environment minister Manas Bhuniya told The Telegraph on Tuesday: “I took charge only nine months ago. I can’t comment on what happened before. Since taking charge, under the chief minister’s directions, we have been working seriously to improve key aspects of the environment.... We expect to improve our performance in the next report.”
“Most of the poorly performing sectors are not under the environment department or the PCB, like municipal waste or sewage,” said an official of the state environment department.
