MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a) and (b) Ambient air quality in cities including Delhi in the country is monitored under National Ambient Air Quality monitoring (NAMP) programme through a network of manual and continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations. During year 2019, out of 50metropolitan cities, all the cities were within National Standard with respect to parameter SO2. 42 cities with respect to NO2, 7 cities with respect to PM10were within the National Standard. The number of metro cities exceeding and within National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) on the basis of annual average data of 2019 is given in Annexure- I.
Analysis of 50 metro cities / million plus urban agglomerations Ambient air quality data revealed that, SO2 levels were within the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in all cities during 2017-19. With respect to NO2, 15 cities showed an increasing trend, 14 cities showed a decreasing concentration and 21 cities showed a fluctuating trend. With respect to PM10, 06 cities showed an increasing trend, 15 cities showed a decreasing concentration, 29 cities showed a fluctuating trend. The three years ambient air quality data of metropolitan cities is given in Annexure – II.
Air pollution is a complex issue and apart from local emissions (like vehicular emission, road dust, burning of biomass/crop/garbage/MSW, Construction activities, industrial activity etc.) due to urbanization and related economic activities it also dependent on several other factors such as meteorology and regional transport of pollutants.
Based on air quality data, 122 non-attainment cities have been identified, and City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been approved by CPCB for 111 non-attainment cities.
With respect to air pollution, Central Government is implementing National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner with targets to achieve 20 % to 30 % reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration. Under NCAP, city specific action plans are prepared that highlighted the major reasons of air pollution in the respective cities.
(c), (d) and (e) City action plans for 111 cities have been prepared and approved for implementation. These action plans focus on city specific short/medium/long term actions to control air pollution from sources such as vehicular emission, road dust, burning of biomass/crop/garbage/Municipal Solid Waste, construction activities, industrial emission, etc. The city action plans of the non-attainment cities are available on www.cpcb.nic.in. Themajor measures being taken by the Government to curb air pollution are focused on:
• Strengthening of air quality monitoring network
• City Action plan based on Source Apportionment Studies
• Emission inventory
• Identification of hotspots
• Environmental regulatory activities
• Establishing and functioning of Air Quality Management cell at ULBs
• Public Grievance Redressal Portals to enable citizens to flag air quality issues in the city for appropriate action.
• Preparation of Emergency Response Systems to prevent air pollution emergencies
• More frequent compliance verification of emission norms
• Awareness and capacity building programs
• Three national and state level committees have been constituted namely Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee and Implementation Committee for overall guidance and direction for effective implementation of NCAP, reviewing proposed interventions, and to evaluate the progress made.
The Government has made the following budget provisions to curb air pollution in the said cities:
• Rs. 336.8 crore (Rs. 111 crores in the year 2020-21, Rs. 224.74 Crores in 2019-20 and Rs. 1.06 Crore in the year 2018-19) have been sanctioned to non-attainment cities under NCAP for initiating actions such as expansion of monitoring network, construction and demolition waste management facilities, non-motorised transport infrastructure, green buffers, mechanical street sweepers, composting units etc.The Details of Grants released to States for the year 2019-20 and 2020-21 is given at Annexure-III.
• ?2200 crores have been released in the Budget of FY 2020-21 to tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution. Further, an amount of Rs. 2,217 crores has been allocated for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population in this budget for improvement of air quality. The amount sanctioned as per recommendations of XV Finance Commission 2020-21 is given at part IV of Annexure-III.
• Rs. 7365.82 Crores was allocated for Solid Waste Management under Urban Swachh Bharat Mission from 2014-2019.
• A provision of Rs. 1,41,678 crores over a period of 5 years from 2021-2026 has been made for Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 with a focus on air pollution reduction by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities and bio-remediation of all legacy dump sites.
• Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme Rs. 1436 Crore have been allocated for non-motorised urban transport and Rs. 1768 Crores for green spaces and parks.
• ? 1726.67 crores have been released for crop residue management in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi, during the year 2018-21.
Various projects have been undertaken as a pilot studies regarding several techniques for controlling air pollution. All these projects are initiated in Delhi. Details of these studies are as under:
i. 54 Air Purification units (WAYU) have been installed and operated of at 5 traffic intersections in Delhi for reduction in air pollution, caused due to heavy vehicular movement, at these locations. Efficiency of WAYU was observed as 32 – 49% for PM10 and 16 - 25% for PM2.5 at the outlet. CPCB is considering operation of new scaled up designs of these air purification units in Delhi in the upcoming winters. A revised proposal has been sought from CSIR-NEERI.
ii. Demonstration project for usage of dust suppressants were conducted at 03 selected sites. About 50 - 60% initial reduction in dust concentration was observed at these sites after application of dust suppressant and about 30% reduction in dust concentration was observed for up to 6 hrs (PM10, PM2.5 and PM1). In view of the effectiveness of dust suppressant, an advisory was issued by CPCB to State Pollution Control Boards in NCR to consider issuing instructions to road owning agencies and govt. construction agencies for its use at unpaved roads, roads with heavy traffic and construction sites. Same has been reported to be used by EDMC at Mandoli Jail road, Sewadham road, Mandoli-Saboli Industrial area road.
iii. A project was awarded for installation of a smog tower to IIT Bombay at AnandVihar, Delhi under the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Smog towers are large/medium scale air purification systems/structures designed to reduce air pollution. The smog tower at AnandVihar is intended for localized reduction in air pollution levels. 40 fans would be installed in the tower to provide a total flow of 960 m3/s and Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of 864 m3/s, i.e. with 90% system filtration efficiency. Tata Projects Ltd is implementing the project on ground with technical support from IIT Bombay and, IIT Bombay in collaboration with IIT Delhi will validate the performance of the Tower for a period of two years.
The other measures taken/being taken by the Government to bring air pollution under the permissible limits across the country inter alia include:
i. Vehicular Pollution Control
• Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2020.
• Network of Metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
• Development of Expressway and Highways are also reducing the fuel consumption and pollution.
• Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
• Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) -2 scheme has been rolled out
• Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
• Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.
ii. Industrial Pollution Control
• Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
• Pet coke and furnace oil have been banned as fuel in Delhi and NCR States.
• Industrial units shifting to PNG.
• Installation of on-line continuous monitoring devices in highly polluting industries.
• Shifting of Brick kilns to zig-zag technology for reduction of pollution
iii. Waste Management
• Notifications of 6 waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste and hazardous waste.
• Setting up infrastructure such ass waste processing plants.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
• Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.
iv. Crop Residue Management
• Under Central Sector Scheme on ‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for in-situ management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi’, agricultural machines and equipment for in-situ crop residue management are promoted with 50% subsidy to the individual farmers and 80% subsidy for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres.
v. Monitoring of Air Quality
• Expansion of air quality monitoring network under National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP)
• Implementation of Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.
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