CSIR-NEERI

While air pollution poses a humungous challenge to most bustling cities across India now, it raised concerns way back in the 1960's as well. Owing to industrial development, in India, cities such as Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Calcutta and new industrial townships such as Durgapur, Neyvelli and Rourkela had begun to manifest symptoms of air pollution like suffocation, increasing fog and invisibility. Coincidentally, the establishment of the Central Public Health Engineering Research Institute (CPHERI) in 1958, (as CSIR-NEERI was known then), helped the industries and civic bodies that were grappling with pollution related issues, to a larger extent. One of the objectives of this institute was to help Indian industries solve their occupational health and industrial hygiene problems. In the 60's, an air pollution survey was taken of Nagpur and its environs --- Even though at that time Nagpur was not a highly industrialised city and was comparatively free from air pollution, except for certain..