STICKING POINTS BETWEEN MEMBER STATES

The graded response action plan (GRAP) is not implemented with the same urgency in all the NCR cities. The EPCA has often pulled up the UP and Haryana governments for a delayed response on issues such as shutting of industries. The problem of stubble burning and the resulting pollution has caused a lot of friction.

During the national lockdown Noida was the first to seal its borders, followed by Ghaziabad and the Gurugram. And, just as the Gurugram and Noida administrations eased curbs, Delhi sealed its borders. his goods to Delhi. We can see that people are being inconvenienced. I will speak with the chief minister before taking discussions forward. We have to find a solution that balances protection of both life and livelihood.” which constitute NCR should go back and remember how they have together tackled air pollution in the past few years,

“Ncriscompletelyinterlinked in terms of movement and the airshed is one. At EPCA, we found that the only way to deal with it was cooperation. There were a lot of times NCR cities such as Gurugram and Bhiwadi came to us questioning why we were locking them down as well under the graded response action plan, despitetheirpollutionlevelsbeing fairly lower than Delhi. But, we didn’t allow any compromise and it worked only because the entire plan was executed as NCR as a whole,” Narain said.

What is currently happening is not the way to go, she added. “. We have been pushing for augmentationofpublictransportinncrcities,” Narain said.