Air quality: Gurugram, Delhi least compliant, says Central Pollution Control Board

Failure to check poor air quality

B.LINE: Blink:At outset of winter, for many years now, Delhi and its neighbouring
areas have become unliveable, particularly for very young, elderly and
those who suffer from respiratory ailments. This year too is no
different. Apart from crop stubble burning by farmers in the nearby States of Haryana and Punjab, vehicular and industrial pollution anddust from construction activities aggravate the situation during this
period. Adding to this is crackers burst during Diwali, the festival of lights.Needless to say, in the last few days, air quality index in thecapital and its satellite cities slipped closer to the severe
category, forcing the authorities to press for some emergency actions.
In addition to the ban on crop residue burning that exists from 2016
(??), the Supreme Court this year restricted the window available for
bursting crackers in Delhi to two hours. Environmental Pollution
(Prevention & Control) Authority, on the other hand, asked Delhi
Pollution Control Committee to ban construction in the capital at least for 10 days from November 1.
,gives you a few glimpses of worsening ambient air
situation ,in New Delhi, on 31.10.18. Pic : Kamal Narang

Gurugram and Delhi are among those in the National Capital Region that are least compliant with steps to address the worsening air quality.

In the aftermath of a meeting chaired by Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan with officials from the Environment Ministry and State officials from Punjab and Haryana, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said the ‘compliance score’ of Delhi was 4.65; Gurugram’s 3.93; Noida’s 7.36 and Faridabad’s 5.01. Officials in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said, on the whole, this reflected extremely poor compliance with the agency’s directions.

Compliance score

The compliance score refers to an index prepared by the CPCB to measure follow-up actions taken by individuals/agencies on violations pointed out by CPCB officials during inspections.

These violations include construction and demolition waste that is left uncovered, biomass burning, traffic congestion and road dust generation.

The numbers were made public at a press conference after Dr. Harsh Vardhan’s meeting on Thursday. “The scores show that actions on the ground are not even 10% of the incidences reported,” he noted.

Extend checks

Earlier this week, the Environment Ministry deployed 52 teams consisting of officers from the CPCB, officials from the police and city municipal corporations to check for violations. On Thursday, the government decided to extend these checks to until November 10, to when air quality is expected to be unhealthy.

“We are getting, on an average, a 100 complaints a day about violations,” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan, adding, “To deal with these we have formed joint teams of both CPCB officials as well as officers from the police, State administration, etc. to go on inspections. After adequate warning, we will not hesitate to launch criminal prosecution against offenders.”

The Air Quality Index (AQI) on Thursday was in the ‘very poor’ category at 393, showed the CPCB website. There was a 30% reduction in stubble fires from Haryana and Punjab this year, stated Dr. Harsh Vardhan, but he said officials were being “pressed” to reduce it even further.