A
meeting to deliberate the issue of mitigation of air pollution was held here
today under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change (MoEF&CC). Several decisions were discussed at the meeting.
After detailed deliberations, it was decided that all concerned organisations
of State Governments and the Central government involved in this will work
towards effectively implementing the following short-term measures
immediately:-
(i)
Strict
compliance of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) and all other directives
issued by Hon’ble Courts;
(ii)
Effective
enforcement of ban on diesel gen-sets, brick kilns, stone crushers, hot mix
plants etc.
(iii)
Ban
on entry of unauthorised trucks into Delhi;
(iv)
Enhancing
parking fee and capacity augmentation of public transport;
(v)
Use
of methods of dust containment and stop civil construction activities for the
moment;
(vi)
Ensure
watering over unpaved roads to contain road dust;
(vii)
Impose
fines on defaulters through Municipal Corporations/State Pollution Control
Boards and other organisations; and
(viii)
Improve
waste management and stop garbage burning.
The
Committee also noted that these steps have already been initiated and that each
of these steps needs to be enforced effectively. It was decided that each
State Government will set up one or more Monitoring Groups, which will continuously
look at compliance. There were suggestions that State Governments should also
set up Flying Squads to assess the situation on the ground, prevent violation
and report.
Chief
Secretary, Haryana and representatives from Punjab government informed the
Committee that stubble burning in both the States was over and in the medium
term, further problems because of that may not arise. However, both the States
had requested that long-term measures to ensure that this does not happen every
year need to be put in place. On these issues, it was decided that the
Committee will continue to meet regularly and discuss viable options like
incentivising the farmers, providing subsidised equipment and using existing
technologies to tide over this problem.
The
meeting discussed the critical issue regarding deteriorating air quality in NCR
and the short-term measures which were required to be urgently put in place.
Among
those who attended the meeting were – Chief Secretary, Haryana – Shri Deepender
Singh Dhesi, Chief Secretary, Delhi – Dr. MM Kutty, Principal Secretary,
Department of Environment, Uttar Pradesh – Ms. Renuka Kmar, Chairman, Punjab
Pollution Control Board, Punjab – Shri KS Pannu and Secretary, Department of
Environment, Rajasthan – Shri RK Grover. The meeting was also attended by Secretary,
Ministry of Earth Science; Secretary, Department of Science and Technology; and
Secretary, Department of Biotechnology and Chairman, CPCB.
***
HK
