Environment ministry forms high-level panel

New Delhi: The environment ministry has set up a high-level committee to propose and monitor solutions to air pollution, which has risen to dangerous levels in and around Delhi, raising serious health concerns.

The ministry also asked affected state governments to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to battle pollution. The plan includes control of road and construction dust, garbage burning, power plant and industrial emissions and vehicular movement, an official statement said.

The seven-member committee, headed by the environment secretary, will look at short-term and longterm measures. It will meet at regular intervals to draw up a plan and ensure the enforcement of various measures, it said.

The decision comes after environment secretary C K Mishra held a meeting with officials of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) to assess the situation and work out the future course of action.

The other members on the committee are the secretaries of science and technology and biotechnology, additional secretary of Niti Aayog, chief secretary of Delhi, CPCB chairman and a representative of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, the statement said.

It was also decided that apart from other directions, the closure of brick kilns, hot mix plants and stone crushers had to be strictly followed. Public transport had to be intensified and sprinkling of water and mechanised sweeping of roads implemented, it said.

The ban on construction, on the use of pet coke and furnace oil had be ensured, for which the respective implementing agencies would held accountable, the statement said.