Title: Assessment of environmental profile in the vicinity of Indian cement industry

Authors: Sudheer Kumar Shukla; Ajay Singh Nagpure; Rajni Sharma; Deepti Sharma; R.N. Shukla

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 300-Cheoncheon-Dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do-440-746, South Korea ' Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA ' Department of Paper Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247667, India ' B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India ' School of Environmental Biology, A.P.S. University, Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract: The present study focuses on an impact assessment of the cement industry on various social, environmental and public health issues. During the study, various socio-environmental issues, such as sex ratio, literacy rate, availability of basic amenities, disease spectrum, land use pattern, crop production, drinking water quality and the effect of emissions on vegetation were thoroughly addressed. Finally, the study also suggests a viable solution for the sustainable development of the cement industry in the particular area. The results show that socio-economic status (e.g. sex ratio, literacy rate and basic amenities) of study area are comparatively below than national average and the people health condition is also poor in the vicinity. Substantial numbers of asthma and tuberculosis patients have been found in study area during field visit. Study also reveals that leaves of dominating plant species in the study area are suffering from necrosis/chlorosis disease.

Keywords: cement industry; environmental impact assessment; EIA; socio-economy; dust pollution; gender ratio; literacy rate; basic amenities; disease spectrum; land use patterns; crop production; drinking water quality; emissions effect; asthma; tuberculosis; plant disease; environmental profile; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2013.054891

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2013 Vol.16 No.4, pp.326 - 342

Received: 07 Mar 2012
Accepted: 18 Sep 2012

Published online: 17 Sep 2014 *

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