Call environment ministers of NCR states for meet: Delhi govt to Centre

NEW DELHI: Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain on Wednesday asked the central government to call a meeting of environment ministers of National Capital Region (NCR) states and other stakeholder departments to find solution to the issue of air pollution in the capital.

In a letter addressed to Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Harsh Vardhan, Hussain said that there was a need for environment ministers and other agencies to come together to resolve the issue of pollution from bio-mass burning, industries, vehicular emissions, construction and demolition activities, selection of landfill sites for municipal solid waste management, etc.

Citing the World Health Organisation's (WHO) global air pollution data that highlights that 14 out of 15 most polluted cities are in India, Hussain stressed that the current situation "is a serious cause of worry for all of us".

He said that due to "multitude of agencies" like Delhi Development Authority, the Municipal Corporations of Delhi and different departments of the Delhi government -- all separately involved in pollution control efforts -- problems "remain unresolved and are rather aggravating" the situation of the city's air.

Delhi and Varanasi are among the 14 Indian cities that figured in a list of 20 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016, data released by the WHO showed on Tuesday.

The WHO data also said that nine out of 10 people in the world breathe air containing high levels of pollutants.

Other Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurugram, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur, followed by Ali Subah Al-Salem in Kuwait and a few cities in China and Mongolia.

In terms of PM10 levels, 13 cities in India figured among the 20 most-polluted cities of the world in 2016.

WHO has called upon member-countries in its South East Asia Region to aggressively address the double burden of household and ambient (outdoor) air pollution, saying the region, which comprises India, accounts for 34 per cent or 2.4 million of the seven million premature deaths caused by household and ambient air pollution together globally each year.

Of the 3.8 million deaths caused by household air pollution globally, the region accounts for 1.5 million or 40 percent deaths, and of the 4.2 million global deaths due to ambient air pollution, 1.3 million or 30 percent are reported from the region, it said.

PM2.5, or particulate matter with diameter equal to or below 2.5 μm includes pollutants like sulfate, nitrate and black carbon, which pose the greatest risk to human health.

Hussain also sought an appointment Harsh Vardhan over the selection of landfill sites in the Capital, as three existing ones have exceeded their capacity to manage municipal solid waste.