‘Comprehensive clean air action plan in Delhi-ncr floundering’
NEW DELHI:
The Delhincr's comprehensive clean air action plan is "floundering", a green body on Thursday said and asserted that thermal power and brick-making sectors, the two key contributors to the severe pollution in the region, might continue to pollute.
The Centre for Science and Environment said getting brick kilns to agree to convert to cleaner technology was a key gain for the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), but that poor conversion quality is threatening to throw the gains "off gear".
It also said most of the thermal plants do not have plans to meet the December 2019 deadline for new emission norms set by the Environment Ministry.
"In 2015, the Union Environment Ministry had announced new emission norms for thermal power plants across India. For power stations located within 300 km of the Delhi-ncr region, the deadline for meeting the norms is December 2019.
"A new survey by the CSE indicates that most plants will not meet the deadline," it said.
The green body said the Delhi-ncr has over 3,000 legal brick kilns, which had been largely practising the extremely polluting process, called FCBTK process (or Fixed Chimney Bull's Trench Kiln), of manufacturing bricks.
In a major step forward, and following action and directives from the EPCA, these kilns have agreed to convert to a cleaner technology the zigzag process.
However, a new CSE assessment reveals that more than half of the kilns have not converted to the zigzag technology efficiently, thereby negating any gains that might have accrued in Delhi's fight against bad air, it pointed out.
"Delhi-ncr's comprehensive clean air action plan is floundering because of the apathy of the regulatory agencies. Our survey of brick kilns and thermal power plants shows that despite regulations and intervention of the Supreme Court and the EPCA, the implementation on the ground is highly compromised.
"Thermal power plants will not be able to meet stringent emission norms by 2019, and brick kilns' conversion to a cleaner zigzag technology will not lead to real reductions in emissions," said Chandra Bhushan, the deputy director general, CSE.
The CSE survey was conducted to analyse the quality of conversion in 63 kilns across 13 districts in Delhi-ncr.
The survey found that about 1,000 kilns have already converted' to the zigzag technology, and the remaining 1,500 have given an affidavit to the EPCA to convert by October 2018.