Improve enforcement at hot spots: Epca

The biggest problem that has been found is the massive amounts plastic, rubber and other industrial waste which is being burnt in the open, leading to pollution.

EPCA

NEWDELHI: The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) has requested the Supreme Court for “urgent directions” to government agencies to improve enforcement at the 13 pollution hot spots identified in Delhi and the neighbouring cities as it sounded an alert in view of rising pollution that is expect to get worse in the coming days with Diwali and the ongoing farm fires.

The Supreme Court mandated EPCA on Friday submitted its report, based on inspections that lasted over a month. EPCA chairperson Bhure Lal said local sources of pollution need to be controlled in the city to keep the overall air quality of the city in check.

In Delhi 13 areas —Okhla phase-ii, Dwarka, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Narela, Mundka, Punjabi Bagh, Wazirpur, Rohini, Vivek Vihar, Anand Vihar, RK Puram and Jahangirpuri—were identified as hot spots where pollution levels were higher than the city’s average. Apart from these 13 spots in the national capital, six more cities from the neighbouring states have come under the pollution control body’s notice. These include, Faridabad phase-i and II, Bahadurgarh, Gurugram (Udyog Vihar), Sahibabad and Bhiwadi.

Lal said that during his inspections in many of these areas violations such as garbage burning, open dumping of waste, storage of construction material stored without any barricading, and stack pollution from industries was found. “Chairman EPCA has visited most of the sites identified as hot spot to investigate reasons for high air pollution and understand the nature and scale of local pollution sources,” the EPCA said in a statement on Friday.

The statement added, “The biggest problem that has been found is the massive amounts plastic, rubber and other industrial waste which is being burnt in the open, leading to pollution. The question is what can be done to resolve this problem.”

Lal said that in its report the EPCA has identified issues such as open dumping of plastic and other industrial waste in open land, industrial emissions, dust from construction sites and improper disposal of the debris, and dust from road infrastructure projects. They have requested the apex court to direct the pollution control and municipal bodies of Delhi and its satellite towns to file compliance reports, strengthen monitoring in these areas and levy high fines to violators and ask for the list of repeat offenders.