Graded response action plan to tackle pollution level

Environment and Ecology Climate

The Supreme Court had accorded its nod to the Centre's graded response action plan to tackle different levels of pollution and asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to upgrade its existing infrastructure and set up additional monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR within six months.

About this plan:

Under the plan, the air quality has been divided into four categories — moderate to poor, very poor, severe and emergency — and specific actions have been prescribed for each situation.
The Centre termed levels of pollution when particulate matter (PM) 2.5 levels are above 250 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) or PM 10 levels are above 430 µg/m³ in the ambient air as severe, and immediate steps need to be taken at such a point, including a ban on construction and implementation of odd-even scheme.
The graded response, takes into account the seasonality of pollution in Delhi.
The proposal has been framed keeping in view the key pollution sources in Delhi-NCR. While major sources of pollution, including vehicles, road dust, biomass burning, construction, power plants and industries, remain continuous throughout all seasons, the episodic pollution from stubble burning, increase in biomass burning, etc varies across seasons.
The actions are to be implemented in the entire NCR, except the action related to stubble burning, which is to be implemented in the states of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
A task force of officials from the central and state pollution control boards, health experts and India Meteorological Department officials will also be set up. This body will work on forecasting and review of pollution levels.

Analysis:

The lessons learnt from Delhi must be implemented in areas around the Indo-Gangetic Plains and entire India, which have equally deplorable air quality due to particulate matter from coal, oil and biomass.
These measures, which include, higher parking charges, greater investment in public transport and pollution free mobility, measures to stop garbage burning and strict enforcement of PUC norms as well as emission standards for power plants and industries, need to be in force all year-round.
Once the pollution levels become critical, it is too late. Pollution levels take days to build up and implementing the measures introduces more delay. No country has solved its air pollution problems by tying enforcement of standards to wind conditions only.

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