Action plan for five cities in state on track: Govt report
CHECKING POLLUTION In compliance report to NGT, state dept says most short-term goals have been met
JAIPUR: Even as experts called for regional emission inventory of air pollution sources for quick response and development of localised graded response action plan (GRAP) to fight the rising pollution, Rajasthan’s action plan for control of air pollution in five “non-attainment” cities is on track.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 102 “non-attainment” cities in India, including Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur in Rajasthan, where the prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are violated.
An attainment area is a politically or geographically defined region that is in compliance with the NAAQS, as set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The CPCB approved t he action plans for Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur in February this year.
HT has a copy of the plans, which call for action under the source groups of ‘vehicle emission control’, ‘re-suspension of road dust and other fugitive emission control’, ‘control of emission from burning of biomass, garbage and municipal solid waste’, ‘control of industrial emissions’, and ‘control of air pollution from construction and demolition activities’.
When the state environment department submitted the action plans to the CPCB in December last year, it set timelines for meeting short, mid and longterm goals under the above groups. The deadline for the shot-term goals was April and for mid and some long-term goals, December this year.
The plan includes action by various departments such as the traffic police, the transport department, the Rajasthan State Pol l u t i o n Cont r o l Boar d (RSPCB) and the local self-government (LSG) department.
According to the quarterly compliance report sent to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by the state government in October (for July 1 to September 30), most of the short-term goals have been met.
The next quarterly compliance report to NGT will be sent in January 2020 (for October 1 to December 31, 2019).
For control of vehicle emissions, police acted against 1,534 polluting vehicles across the five non-attainment cities in last six months, the compliance report said.
The department also conducted 291 public awareness campaigns for air pollution control, vehicle maintenance, minimizing use of personal vehicles and lane discipline. Challans were issued to around 77,000 vehicles for parking in non-designated areas, the report added.
The compliance report says for monitoring and control of emissions from burning of biomass, crop residue, garbage and municipal solid waste burning, nine vigilance teams of 18 officers have been set up for industrial areas in urban limits of the five cities. The urban local bodies have also banned these activities and formed vigilance teams for action on defaulters.
An official of the environment department, who is not authorised to speak to the media, said for control of air pollution from construction and demolition (C&D) activities, the local self government (LSG) department has sent a draft C&D waste management policy to the state government for approval.
The Jaipur Municipal Corporation has sent the rates of C&D waste management tender for approval to the urban development and housing minister, a JMC official said.
COMMITTEES FORMED Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in January this year to reduce air pollution by at least 20% in next five years, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) made guidelines on April 24 this year. This called for setting up of three committees, two at the state level and one at the level of districts.
In Rajasthan, the three committees have been set up and two of the state-level bodies have even held one quarterly review each.
The three committees include a state-level steering committee under the chairmanship of chief secretary, a state-level monitoring committee under the chairmanship of principal secretary of the environment department, and district implementation committees under district collectors of five non-attainment cities.
JAIPUR’S AQI IMPROVES The quality of air in Jaipur improved on Tuesday. According to the 4pm bulleting of the CPCB, the 24-hour average AQI value on Tuesday was 160, which is ‘moderate’ category. This was an improvement from 286 on Sunday. On Saturday, Jaipur’s AQI value was 398 and in the ‘very poor’ category.
AQI under 50 is considered good, between 51 and 100 is satisfactory, between 101 and 200 is moderate, between 201 and 300 is poor, between 301 and 400 is very poor, between 401 and 500 is severe and more than 500 is considered to be an air emergency.
The major pollutants in Jaipur are PM 2.5 (ultrafine particles of the size 2.5 microns or less) and PM 10. PM 2.5 concentrations over 250 micrograms per cubic metre and PM 10 concentrations more t han 430 micrograms per cubic metre for 48 hours is considered bad for air.
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS Introduction of intelligence traffic systems for lane driving
Restriction on plying and phasing out of 15-year-old commercial diesel vehicles
Ban on burning of agriculture waste and crop residues
Covering of construction sites and restriction on storage of construction material along roads
Development and maintenance of green areas, gardens and parks in industrial areas