Delhi govt’s measures to tackle pollution are too little too late: Greenpeace -Governance Now

Delhi govt’s measures to tackle pollution are too little too late: Greenpeace

Ensuring the right to clean air requires a systematic national action plan with timelines, as well as measures to reduce pollution emissions from all key sectors, including power generation, industry, transport and agriculture

GN Bureau | November 7, 2016

#environment #clean air #gas chamber #crop burning #smog #Delhi choke #Delhi pollution #Delhi air #air pollution

As the Delhi government announced emergency measures to help citizens cope with the public health crisis of hazardous air pollution levels, Greenpeace India has reiterated the central demands of its ‘Clean Air Nation’ campaign:

A stronger national air quality index (NAQI) including health advisories and alert system for closure of polluting sources and industries to be triggered automatically.
Comprehensive and systematic national clean air action plan including all the sources of pollution i.e., biomass burning, industry, thermal power plants, transport, construction and demolition activities and fugitive dust emissions, etc.
Coordinated efforts between central and state governments.
Set targets for reducing inter-state pollution, including a compliance plan for meeting the new thermal power plant emission standards.
A set deadline for meeting the national air quality standards e.g. 5-year interim targets for reducing pollution levels in each state and city that doesn't currently comply.

“The measures announced by the Delhi government may bring some relief to some citizens, but this is frankly too little too late, and fails to address the problem in its entirety,” said Sunil Dahiya, Greenpeace India campaigner, adding, “Over the last 18 months, thousands of Greenpeace supporters have joined us in calling for a national action plan, and for infrastructure improvements. For instance, an effective NAQI would automatically trigger the issuing of a health advisory and the resultant closure of schools and offices, etc., instead of these measures only being announced after a series of consultations and cabinet meetings. Even now, the problem is really only being discussed in post-Diwali Delhi terms; the levels may have peaked this week, but they have been consistently high for months now. And although shutting down the Badarpur Thermal Power Plant is a welcome first move, how about applying the same logic to the other plants, and the pollution affecting the rest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain region? ”

Greenpeace India has previously released graphs and satellite imagery revealing how clearly pollution hotspots are mapped to thermal power plants all across the Indo-Gangetic plain, and a status assessment of the NAQI that illustrated a simple fact: Tackling India’s air pollution crisis and ensuring the right to clean air for all Indians requires an ambitious and systematic national action plan with targets and timelines, as well as measures to reduce air pollution emissions from all key polluting sectors, including power generation, industry, transport and agriculture.

“Air pollution has become an issue of life and death for our people. It is a matter of survival, each one of us needs to stand up and take a role. Pollution has to be the priority issue for all governments - polluted air does not recognise political boundaries of states and cities you live on, so neither must our efforts to clean it up,” added Umendra Dutt of Kheti Virasat Manch. “We need a comprehensive action plan to clean up the air across all our states: be it Haryana, Punjab or Bihar. Indeed, even the plan to clean up the air in the region can only really work if it includes action taken in all states.”

Read: IIT study has all answers to Delhi’s pollution woes

Comments

Other News

Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure released

The final ‘Report of India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure’ by ‘India’s G20 Task Force on Digital Public Infrastructure for Economic Transformation, Financial Inclusion and Development’ was released in New Delhi on Monday. The Task Force was led by the

How the Great War of Mahabharata was actually a world war

Mahabharata: A World War By Gaurang Damani Sanganak Prakashan, 317 pages, Rs 300 Gaurang Damani, a Mumbai-based el

Budget expectations, from job creation to tax reforms…

With the return of the NDA to power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, all eyes are now on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s full budget for the FY 2024-25. The interim budget presented in February was a typical vote-on-accounts, allowing the outgoing government to manage expenses in

How to transform rural landscapes, design 5G intelligent villages

Futuristic technologies such as 5G are already here. While urban users are reaping their benefits, these technologies also have a potential to transform rural areas. How to unleash that potential is the question. That was the focus of a workshop – “Transforming Rural Landscape:

PM Modi visits Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh in Moscow

Prime minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by president Vladimir Putin, visited the All Russian Exhibition Centre, VDNKh, in Moscow Tuesday. The two leaders toured the Rosatom Pavilion at VDNKh. The Rosatom pavilion, inaugurated in November 2023, is one of the largest exhibitions on the histo

Let us pledge to do what we can for environment: President

President Droupadi Murmu on Monday morning spent some time at the sea beach of the holy city of Puri, a day after participating in the annual Rath Yatra. Later she penned her thoughts about the experience of being in close commune with nature. In a message posted on X, she said: