CPCB to crack down on 10 pollution spots in Delhi-NCR
NEW DELHI: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) – the country’s apex pollution monitoring and control body — is planning to launch a two-pronged attacks from Friday to check pollution levels in Delhi.
CPCB is in the process of identifying 10 hotspots — five based on AQI levels and another five on reports from its 40 teams.
Once the spots and sources of pollution are identified, the CPCB would direct various agencies such as civic bodies, transport department, PWD and DDA to initiate localised actions to crackdown.the pollution board will convene a meeting with various agencies to finalise its course of action on Friday.
“We are identifying five hotspots based on AQI levels another five areas where our teams have spotted violations such as garbage burning, open construction sites and road dust among others,” said A Sudhakar, member secretary of the CPCB.
Earlier, a similar approach was adopted by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. The Supreme Court-appointed panel identified five hotspots in Delhi-NCR.
The five spots identified by EPCA were Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, Faridabad in Haryana, Ghaziabad and Noida Sector 125 in Uttar Pradesh and Anand Vihar in Delhi. EPCA chairman Bhure Lal along with senior officials of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and transport department visited some of spots to identify the pollution sources.
EPCA had asked the respective state pollution control boards of the NCR states to initiate measures to check pollution from these spots immediately.
“While some stations based on high AQI values such Anand Vihar, DTU and Shadipur have already been identified, the reports of our teams are being collated to identify the other areas. We hope to compile the list by Thursday,” said Sudhakar.
He said that various government agencies would also be asked to carry out the same task – identify pollution hotspots in their areas – and then crack down by initiating localised actions.
“This could prove to be effective. While on one hand EPCA is introducing various measures such as banning diesel generators, shutting down brick kilns and closing down Badarpur thermal power plant that is helping to bring down the overall AQI of Delhi and NCR, such localised actions would ensure that emissions are cut off at the source,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at CSE.