'Don’t Let Your Air Down': PUC to Stubble Burning, Centre's Prep Talk Ahead of Delhi’s Smoggy Winter

With days left before the air quality changes for the worse in the national capital, the Centre has directed the government in Delhi as well as its neighbouring states to step up their preparations to combat the rise in air pollution.

In the latest review meeting held on Tuesday, Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav discussed the issue in light of the paddy stubble expected to be generated by the states this Kharif season ending October.

With crop fires already raging across villages in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana, the government reviewed the action taken by the states so far, including the availability of crop residue management machinery, as well as its timely distribution among farmers. Expansion of area under bio-decomposers, an important strategy towards in-situ stubble management, was also discussed, along with activities to promote alternative usage of paddy straw as an economic resource.

Haryana Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, too, attended the meeting, apart from environment ministers of all NCR states, including Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana.

STRICT ACTION AGAINST POLLUTING VEHICLES

With vehicles contributing to nearly 40% to the overall pollution in the national capital, emphasis was laid on ensuring strict compliance with the Pollution Under Check (PUC) certificate for all motorised vehicles. The road traffic management, including diversions during days of peak pollution, was also discussed. Yadav highlighted the transition to PNG/cleaner fuels as priority, and asked the officials to speed up action.

Apart from stubble burning, officials also discussed the action being taken to control pollution from industries as well as diesel generator sets, dust from road and open areas, as well as construction activities. While uninterrupted use of diesel generators will only be permitted for emergency services under the Graded Action Plan, Yadav said that he has asked DISCOM to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the region to discourage the usage of diesel gensets.

LONG-TERM POLICY

While the ongoing rain has cleared the air, upcoming celebrations around Diwali are set to pose the biggest challenge. Bursting of crackers has been banned in Delhi, while Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have permitted the use of green fire crackers. Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) reiterated the need to focus on short as well as long-term targets under the comprehensive policy for various sectors by different agencies.

The Graded Response Action Plan had been revised as per the AQI values in order to make it more understandable and actionable.

Meanwhile, the states informed that the area under green cover has expanded.

A total of 240.9 km of roads were greened in the NCR during April-August 2022 — 4.7 km in Delhi, 79.4 km in UP (NCR), 49.4 in Haryana (NCR) and 107.4 km in Rajasthan (NCR).

As many as 60 Dust Control and Management Cells have been set up by road owning/ maintaining agencies with 11 in NCT of Delhi, 18 in UP, 17 in Haryana and 14 in Rajasthan. States have also deployed machines for road sweeping and water sprinkling.

Efforts are being made to combat pollution from dust from construction and demolition activities. The web portal which is functional in Delhi, Haryana and UP mandates registration of projects on plots with an area of more than 500 sq m to follow directions to control dust from construction activity. Deployment of anti-smog guns as per the total construction area was also discussed.

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