Don’t let air turn ‘poor’ before graded plan kicks in, Delhi’s neighbours told

NEW DELHI: With the air quality set to gradually deteriorate in the coming weeks as winter sets in, Bhure Lal, chairman of the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority, has written letters to Delhi’s neighbouring states and asked them to take action to control waste burning, stubble burning and to enforce other measures to control activities that aggravate pollution.

Lal also asked states on Tuesday to ensure the air quality index (AQI) did not cross the 200 mark (signifying ‘poor’ air quality) before the Graded Response Action Plan to counter rising pollution kicked in from October 15.
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In a video-conference call, the EPCA chairman spoke to officials from Uttar Pradesh and informed them about the pollution hotspots in their state that had been identified during field visits.
“We told them that more than stubble burning, the incineration of rubber, plastic and chemicals was causing more actual damage to the quality of air,” Lal told TOI. “We shared photographs of locations where plastic had been detected being burnt. We have also showed them photographs of black smoke coming out from chimneys. As the temperature starts to drop, we will start to see a rise in pollution and so we have asked the UP officials to strictly enforce the law.”
The AQI on Tuesday was 135 (moderate). An AQI between 101and 200 is classified as ‘moderate’ on the CPCB index. Once it crosses 201, it is classified as ‘poor’, while between 301 and 400 it is categorised as ‘very poor’. An AQI above 401 is rated as ‘severe’ on the index.
GRAP includes emergency measures being triggered as the air quality starts to deteriorate. Stipulated actions are taken based on the AQI being ‘moderate to poor’, ‘very poor’, ‘severe’ and ‘severe plus’.
In the last category, which records respirable PM 2.5 presence at over 300 micrograms per cubic metre and bigger PM 10 pollutants at over 500 micrograms per cubic metre for over 48 hours, steps are taken to halt all construction activities, bar entry of trucks into Delhi and consider implementation of the odd-even road rationing scheme.
In the ‘severe’ category, brick kilns, hot-mix plants and stone crushers are shut down, and the frequency of public transport is increased. When air is in the ‘very poor’ category, parking fees have to be increased four times and diesel generators banned.
Lal said EPCA had already instructed the neighbouring states to begin taking steps like sprinkling water to control dust, mechanised sweeping of roads, preventing use of DG sets and pulling up polluting vehicles. It has also asked the states to oversee a switch to cleaner fuels and ban the use of pet coke and furnace oils. “We need not wait for GRAP to initiate some of these measures,” the EPCA chief said.
Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director (Research and Advocacy), Centre for Science and Environment, explained that the AQI generally spikes during September end and October first week owing to a change in wind directions, reduced wind speed and a drop in temperature. “The AQI normally touches 200 at this time. So GRAP will be put into action on October 15 this year,” said Roy Chowdhury.