National Clean Air Programme: Govt soon to start work on plan

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will soon start working on the proposed National Clean Air Programme, which was notified by the Union Government on Tuesday.

On February 10, the 'Clean Air For Delhi' campaign was launched by Union Minister for Environment Dr Harsh Vardhan and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Under the campaign, 70 teams, comprising officials from various government agencies, will fan out and monitor causes of pollution and initiate remedial measures, including on-the-spot penal action against serious polluters.

Greenpeace India had called the campaign a "welcome step", considering the severity of air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

"As a country, we are well past the stage of discussing what may have caused this nation-wide airpocalypse," the NGO said.

The Delhi government will go through the plan and subsequently implement all the necessary things.

Earlier, Delhi government officials had met officials of the Union Environment Ministry to discuss the plans.

Officials said that the main target of the plan is "augmenting the air quality monitoring network, inclusion of an air quality management plan for 100 non-attainment cities, allocation of specific Budget for strengthening air quality monitoring and forecasting mechanism along with other activities under section 7.2 of the Concept Note."

"Air pollution is not a problem that afflicts just Delhi-NCR, but also all states across India, and specifically northern India. The clock is ticking, and to deal with the issue, the government needs to bring the draft National Clean Air Programme (announced last December) in public domain and should start taking comprehensive, systematic and time-bound actions to curb air pollution levels as soon as possible," said Sunil Dahiya, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India.

Environmental experts also said that after much anticipation, the central government finally uploaded the Concept Note on National Clean Air Programme on its website for public comments on Tuesday.

While this is a big achievement for people who have been at the receiving end of the air pollution issue, the absence of absolute pollution reduction targets of 35 per cent in three years and 50 per cent in five years is a cause of concern for many environmentalists.

"We believe MoEFCC will rectify those in the final version of the programme," said an expert.