Centre fixes accountability for NCR air, orders sealing of 191 units

A day after the air quality in Delhi deteriorated to near severe category, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav held a high-level review meeting Saturday and directed a range of measures, including asking states to nominate Secretary-level officials for direct accountability of implementation of anti-pollution curbs across cities in the National Capital Region (NCR).

These officials will undertake field visits and report to the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and Adjoining Areas, and the ministry requested CAQM to “issue notices to non-performing officers”, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The directions to hold officials responsible also comes in the backdrop of the suspension of an executive engineer of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) for serious lapses in implementation of road sweeping and dust mitigation measures.

Following a hearing on November 3, the CAQM had earlier this month directed the MCG Commissioner to file a complaint against the engineer before the Judicial Magistrate. In the light of this direction by CAQM, the engineer was suspended on November 4 by the Department of Urban Local Bodies, Haryana.

Later, on November 12, the MCG Commissioner wrote to the District Attorney, MCG, directing to examine the issue in accordance with applicable statutory provisions and initiate “appropriate prosecution proceedings” before a competent court/forum after obtaining necessary approvals.

The CAQM’s action was based on inspections in the relevant parts of Gurugram City, where it detected 258 violations, including visible dust on roads, accumulation of construction and demolition waste, damaged footpaths out of which 174 violations pertained to MCG and 84 to Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority.

It had also received complaints from citizens on social media platforms. Dust is a major contributor to particulate matter 10 (micrometers) pollution and also contributes to formation of secondary pollutants. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was also directed to immediately seal 191 non-conforming polluting industries which had neither installed Air Pollution Control Devices (APCD), nor placed work orders despite repeated directions, as well as show-cause notices.

Further, Yadav directed CAQM to initiate criminal prosecution against “delinquent” transport department officials who have failed to install Automatic Number Plate Registration to monitor and intensify action against old and polluting vehicles, according to the ministry’s release.

“With winter pollution intensifying, the Union Minister directed all agencies to move beyond planning and ensure rigorous, time-bound and coordinated enforcement on the ground,” the environment ministry press release stated.

On October 30, the CPCB had issued an order directing state pollution control boards of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi Pollution Control Committee to act against industrial units that had not installed APCDs nor placed orders for them.

Also Read | Delhi’s air quality worsens; crackers still account for 7% of pollution load3 This order stemmed from a February direction of the CAQM prescribing a particulate matter emission limit of 50 micrograms per cubic metre for 17 highly polluting categories of industries, including food processing, textiles and metals.

Over 2,000 industries were identified for compliance. Industrial emissions are a significant pollution source in the winter season. Since the spike in air pollution levels over the last 10 days, especially after the spurt in paddy straw fires in Punjab, CAQM officials have undertaken field visits to the state.

CAQM chairperson Rajesh Verma, and Member Secretary Tarun Kumar Pithode have visited different districts in Punjab to meet with district magistrates, senior police officers to assess crop residue management, deployment of machinery and monitoring of fires.

On road dust mitigation, Yadav also noted that out of 5,480 km of roads targeted, only 3,221 km had been redeveloped. He directed road-owning agencies to prioritise pothole repairs, damaged footpaths, central verges and end-to-end paving as per CAQM framework, along with AI-based videographic surveys.

He also called for physical inspection of over 3,000 active C&D sites, timely lifting of waste from secondary collection points, ensuring functional recycling plants and digital tracking of waste from collection to processing through ICCCs, the ministry’s release said.

An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with... Read More