Target hole in pollution plan

G.S. Mudur Apr 18, 2018 00:00 IST

Source: Shutterstock

New Delhi: The environment ministry on Tuesday released a draft plan that proposes multiple strategies to monitor and curb air pollution nationwide, but lacks its own earlier targets to slash the menace by 35 per cent in three years and 50 per cent in five years.

The ministry's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has proposed enhancing the air pollution monitoring network from 691 to 1,000 towns, introducing continuous air quality monitoring stations along the Indo-Gangetic plains, and outlined 42 measures to curb air pollution in large cities.

The NCAP has set targets, timelines and costs to expand air pollution monitoring networks, establish 10 air quality forecasting stations, conduct air pollution health impact studies and expand efforts to determine the sources of air pollution from the present six cities to 94 cities. (See chart)

The programme will also seek to expand monitoring stations for particulate matter sized 2.5 microns or less - the deadliest form of air pollutants that can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream - from the present 67 to 1,000 towns within two years.

Senior environment ministry officials said the draft plan, which has been released to elicit responses from stakeholders, would be discussed at a meeting of state environment officials scheduled by the ministry on April 19 and 20.

The NCAP comes amid concerns from studies indicating that about 1.8 million people across India die every year prematurely from health impacts of air pollution. That estimate is based on studies that assessed air pollution deaths in 2015.

But environmental activists campaigning for stronger actions to reduce air pollution said they were surprised that the NCAP document did not contain quantified targets the environment ministry had outlined earlier.

An environment ministry document on the proposed NCAP dated August 8, 2017, had mentioned that the programme was "targeting to reduce 35 per cent pollution within 3 years and 50 per cent of pollution level in the next 5 years".

But a senior environment ministry official told The Telegraph on Tuesday that the targets for air pollution reduction were likely to be "finalised" through consultations with state officials. "We need to see how much can we practically achieve," the official said.

Environmental activists said they were disappointed at the absence of targets to reduce air pollution levels.

"How does the ministry expect to even measure progress without any targets for pollution reduction?" said Sunil Dahiya, a campaigner with Greenpeace India, an environmental group. "Were the 35 per cent and 50 per cent targets just arbitrary numbers touted earlier?"

The NCAP document has said large cities will be expected to implement 42 measures to curb air pollution that include multiple steps to reduce vehicular pollution, road and construction dust, industrial emissions and soot from burning of biomass and garbage. It has proposed new mechanisms for monitoring, assessment and inspection of the implementation of the activities.