EPCA: NEED TO IMPLEMENT SC ORDERS TO CUT POLLUTION IN NCR

NEW DELHI: Two days after the Centre told the Supreme Court that it was coming up with a composite law to tackle air pollution in the Capital, the apex court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority (Epca) released a copy of a September 11 report it had submitted to the court .

“The September 11 Epca report is the first status report on actions taken and those that remain to be taken in Delhi-NCR on air pollution; it was submitted to a new bench that took over the matter. Between September 11 and now, two more short, issue-specific reports on crop stubble fires and diesel vehicles were submitted to inform the apex court on what needs to be done,” said an Epca member who did not want to be named.

“This report is being shared now because most action in Delhi-NCR has been taken based on SC orders, including enforcement of pollution control in hot spots, implementation of radiofrequency identification technology, closing of thermal power plants in NCR, the closure of Badarpur power plant in Delhi, implementation of graded response action plan and the Comprehensive Action Plan. Now what remains is very stringent enforcement to meet the air pollution crisis. We do not want to comment on anything else,” the member added. On Wednesday, senior environment ministry officials said the law proposed by the Centre will pave the way for the creation of a new commission for air pollution control in Delhi-NCR.