GUWAHATI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued an order directing 53 cities across India which saw a deterioration in air quality to submit a full report containing the polluting factors and measures taken by April 26.
The NGT bench was hearing the issue of air quality deterioration in various cities across India, as revealed in the Air Quality Index (AQI) maintained by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The cities have been asked to disclose each polluting source in terms of identified pollutant (PM10/PM2.5) as per source apportionment and progressive reduction on account of measures taken in the report.
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The order further stated that the reports submitted by Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Gujrat, Delhi and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change indicated that in cities, action plans are implemented without having complete Source Apportionment Studies and that the major contributor to air pollution is road dust.
The NGT ordered that efforts be taken towards undertaking road dust mitigating activities and further stated that, “dust pollution issue and its behavior is concerned with metrological conditions and each city is required to have seasonal treads and accordingly, action plan be implemented in advance.”
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The order further stated that, “Out of 53 cities identified under the present matter, 19 cities fall in Non-Attainment City (NAC) and Rs. 1644.4025 crores has been allocated for air quality improvement. MoEF&CC needs to ensure that assets created by expanding such amount are proper utilized and issue relating to O&M are duly addressed. It is also necessary that such funding do not create too much dependency on central funding and authorities concerned in the States and cities perform their own statutory and obligatory functions.”
Earlier on December 5, the tribunal had stated that the funds received by the respective cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and the 15th Finance Commission had not been properly utilised, after considering the reports submitted by various states, while asking the states to submit a further action-taken report.
