Evaluation of Plants Growing Around a Cement Factory

Abstract

In India, population explosion is the most serious problem. The vast multitude of people need food and shelter, the basic necessity of life which may be achieved only through rapid industralisation and urbanisation. To meet the increasing demand of construction material, a large number of cement factories have been set up, as it being the most widely used building material all over the world. These factories have mainly been installed in rural areas near crop fields and residential areas or forests. After some years of operation these factories emit an enormous amount of cement dust into the atmosphere, causing severe ecological problems apart from health hazards. In Uttar Pradesh (largest state of India) alone several large scale cement factories have been set up in Sonbhadra district in south eastern part of the state. These factories produce 400,000 MT to 1,144,000 MT (metric tonnes) cement annually. Simultaneously they emanate an enormous amount of cement dust into the atmosphere which settles over the vegetation and soil surfaces in the surroundings more specifically in the lee ward direction.