Rajasthan suffers the most in the matter of indoor and outdoor air pollution and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases) due to such pollution account for most deaths in the state, former SMS Medical College Principal Dr. Virendra Singh said on Saturday.
 

Dr. Virendra Singh, Secretary of Indian Asthma Care Society, was speaking at 'Air-O-Thon', the Jaipur edition of the second series of an international summit, organised on the Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) campus here on indoor air pollution and air quality management. The one-day event focused on indoor air quality in India and discussed health implications of such exposure.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashish Jain, Founder-Director of Indian Pollution Control Association, said: "Air-o-thon is a platform where various stakeholders share their knowledge, learning and experience on indoor air quality and help break the myth about it, helping citizen of India to breathe easy." Dr. Nivedita Kaul, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering at MNIT, said: "The workshop was an effort to bring together the technical acumen of engineers and the expertise of eminent pulmonologists to put before society the concrete manner in which the growing challenge of indoor and air pollution can be addressed."

The event was organised by Prospurs Pte Ltd and IPCA, New Delhi, with the knowledge partnership of Society for Indoor Environment (SIE). Eminent speakers included researchers and academicians from IPCA, SIE, Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology), government officials, medical officers from the SMS Medical College, regulators (state Pollution Control Board) and industry experts. It was supported by organisations, including IIT-Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT-Delhi, and others which shared knowledge, experience, concerns, technologies and solutions to set up a momentum to fight air pollution.