New Delhi [India], September 30 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday listed a 15-action plan to monitor and tackle pollution in the national capital during this winter.

New Delhi Mar 23 PTI With Delhi being adjudged the most polluted capital in the world for the fourth consecutive year in 2021 experts feel that the lack of systematic implementation of plans and policies to fight air pollution in the entire airshed has been keeping the problem aliveAn airshed is the entire area over which the pollutants disperse due to meteorological and geographical factorsDelhi is the worlds most polluted capital for the fourth consecutive year in 2021 with pollution rising almost 15 per cent over the previous year according to the World Air Quality Report released by IQAir a Swiss firm Air pollution levels 964 micrograms per cubic meter in the capital were around 20 times above the WHO-prescribed safe limit of five micrograms per cubic meterThe reason why Delhi hasnt been able to improve its air quality all these years is the lack of a systematic and comprehensive policy implementation targeting absolute emission load reduction Sunil Dahiya from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air saidLondon and Beijing were more polluted than Delhi at one time but they improved their air quality with the systematic and coordinated implementation of policies he saidIn Delhi we have a plethora of policies and agencies including the Commission for Air Quality Management and the National Clean Air Programme Several pollution-related cases are in courts and the city government is also making efforts But little has been done keeping the larger airshed in mind Thats the reason the overall emission load primarily due to fossil fuel burning has not reduced Dahiya saidDespite transportation accounting for a large share in the overall emission load in Delhi the government has shied away from capping the number of cars and setting a target to reduce the consumption of diesel and petrolThough the Delhi government has introduced Delhi Electric Vehicles policy which aims at increasing the EV share in total vehicle sales to 25 percent by 2024 vehicles plying in neighbouring areas also affect its air quality Dahiya saidAccording to The Energy and Resources Institute Delhi could reduce its PM 25 concentrations by nearly 35 percent by 2030 as compared to the 2019 emissions if efforts are made to manage pollution in the entire national capital regionKarthik Ganesan a research fellow at Council on Energy Environment and Water said all industries in the national capital region are yet to switch to PNG barring Delhi and that doesnt solve the problemAlso public transport augmentation in Delhi has not happened speedily The authorities are constructing peripheral expressways but that doesnt take the fossil fuel-driven vehicles far from the city he saidGanesan said if air pollution has reduced in the capital over the years as claimed by the authorities they should tell what factors led to the decreaseAnd we should not be talking about air pollution in winter alone The air is equally bad in summers and nobody talks about the Decision Support System of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology he saidThough the city government has taken several steps to reduce air pollution like directing fuel stations not to give fuel without a valid pollution-under-control certificate there is no way to know whether the directions are being implemented on the groundAnother problem with Delhi is the multiplicity of agencies which hamper the implementation of plans and policies to curb air pollution Ganesan ruedThe steps to reduce air pollution are all laid out in the city action plan The authorities should now focus on their implementation he addedChandra Bhushan President and CEO of the International Forum for Environment Sustainability Technology said the problem is that authorities have a very simplistic approach to deal with air pollution in IndiaWe think if we can deal with certain sectors the issue will be resolved It wont For example our focus has been mainly on the transport sector -- we brought in BS VI CNG and now EVs while burning of biomass and coal accounts for around 80 percent of the air pollution in our country he saidThe expert said thermal power plants not being able to implement emission standards has been the biggest failure of the Environment Ministry and the Central Pollution Control BoardTill the time we reduce burning of biomass and use of coal There has been no country which has been able to reduce air pollution without reducing the burning of biomass and coal China for example reduced the burning of biomass for cooking which we are also trying he saidChandra Bushan said the biggest step that authorities in India have taken to reduce pollution is providing LPG connection to every household Biomass burning is the one common source responsible for a large percentage of air pollution in the countryAsking people to obtain a valid PUCC is easy as compared to asking people not to burn wood for cooking We will have to make LPG affordable to be able to do that he addedDesertification is the second major factor for increased air pollution in Delhi over the last 15 years We will have to restore large parcels of degraded land restore our water bodies and plant trees he said Jai Dhar Gupta founding member of Citizens Movement My Right to Breathe said 15-20 times the WHO safe level is alarming Whats more alarming is that weve known about it for years and chose to disregard it The only explanation for those wondering why levels have moved up 15 percent in a Covid year is that economic hardship has pushed the urban poor from LPG cylinders to using chulas with biomass Also the vehicular adoption and especially the luxury gas guzzling segment has been off the handle Air pollution and climate change step from the use of fossil fuels we have to move to cleaner renewable sources now Dhar said PTI GVS TDS TDS

New Delhi Dec 16 PTI The Union Environment Ministry has released Rs 11 crore to Delhiunder the National Clean Air Programme NCAP to cater to critical gaps in air pollution management officials said FridayThis is the first time Delhi has got funds under NCAP a national-level strategy for a 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction in PM25 and PM10 concentration by 2024 with 2017 as the base year for comparisonDelhi has been allocated Rs 1874 crore under NCAPThis is the first time it received funds under the programme since it started in 2019The first installmentof Rs 11 crore was released a few days ago an official said The rest of the amount will be released after Delhi submits utilization certificates for up to 60 percent of the first installment he said The NCAP fund will be utilised to meet critical gaps -- wherever there is any inadequacy of funds from other sources The rest of the funding is to be mobilised through convergence of schemesFunds for bigger projects such as management of construction and demolition waste are allocated under the Swachh Bharat Urban programme and other schemes of the central government NCAP covers 132 non-attainment cities which do not meet the prescribed national ambient air quality standards These cities have been identified based on the ambient air quality data obtained during the 2011-2015 period under the National Air Monitoring ProgrammeThe acceptable annual standard for PM 10 and PM25 is 60 micrograms per cubic metre and 40 micrograms per cubic metre respectivelyIn 2017 Delhis annual PM10 average stood at 240 micrograms per cubic metre The targeted PM 10 concentration by 2024 is 168 micrograms per cubic metreOfficials in the Union Environment Ministry said the national capital did not get any funds under NCAP for two years because it had other resources available -- a green cess levied on diesel vehicles above 2000 cc which is deposited with the Central Pollution Control Board CPCB and a pollution tax on commercial vehicles entering Delhi This time fund availability under NCAP has improvedFifty cities are already getting a good amount Rs 4400 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 2217 crore in 2021-22 for pollution management from the Finance Commission Therefore the availability of funds for the remaining 82 cities under NCAP has improved So we decided to give some funds to Delhi too an official had said earlier PTI GVS TIR TIR