Orissa's Sukinda valley and industrial city of Vapi in Gujarat are among the top ten worst polluted areas in the world, according to a survey by an independent environment group.
The pollution puts more than 2.5 million people at risk in Sukinda and another 71,000 in Vapi, which has one of the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world, the survey released by the prestigious US-based Blacksmith Institute claimed.
Both Sukinda and Vapi are new entrants on the Institute's list, but Ranipet in Tamil Nadu, which was included last year, is out of the top ten this time but still finds place in the top 30 contaminated areas identified by the survey.
Mahad industrial estate in Maharashtra among the 30 most polluted areas. In the expanded list, Russia and former Soviet republics have 10 sites, and China six.
Among other worst ten polluted areas are Sumgayit (Azerbaijan), Linfen and Tianjin in China, La Oroya (Peru), Dzerzhinsk and Norilsk (both in Russia ), Chernobyl (Ukraine) and Kabwe (Zambia).
No site from the United States and other rich nations is included in the list but analysts say that the rich are responsible in the sense that they are using products produced by the highly polluting industries in the developing nations.
The report, issued in partnership with Green Cross Switzerland, estimates overall more than 12 million people are impacted in the top ten severely polluted sites.
The list does not rank the cities in terms of pollution, saying rankings are not realistic or feasible.
"The fact of the matter is that children are sick and dying in these polluted places, and it is not rocket science to fix them," Richard Fuller, founder and director the Institute, said.
"This year, there has been more focus on pollution in the media, but there has been little action in t terms of new funding or programmes. We all need to step up to the plate and get moving."
The major ailments as a result of pollution include asthma, respiratory disorders and birth defects.
The list is based on scoring criteria devised by an international group of experts including researchers from IIT, Delhi and Harvard University and leaders of major international environmental remediation companies who comprise Blacksmith Institute's Technical Advisory Board.
Specialists from Green Cross Switzerland also participated in this year's assessment.
"We received over 40 new site nominations from people around the world as a result of publishing the 2006 list. Our database now includes over 400 polluted sites," observes Hanrahan, Blacksmith's Director of Global Operations.
Vapi, the survey says, exemplifies a region overwhelmed by industrial estates -- more than fifty industries poison the local soils and groundwater with pesticides, PCBs, chromium, mercury, lead, and cadmium.
"Mercury in Vapi's groundwater is 96 times higher than WHO health standards. Twelve mines operate in Sukinda without environmental controls, leaching hexavalent chromium into drinking water supplies," it said.
