E-Paper
Lucknow, 16 other UP cities asked to combat air pollution
Measures to be undertaken include increasing use of mechanised road sweeping machine (MRSM), ensuring no stubble burning takes place and sprinkling of water on roads, particularly near construction sites
LUCKNOW As many as 17 non-attainment cities in Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, were asked to intensify air pollution control measures immediately by the Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) during a meeting held here on Friday.
Cities are declared non-attainment, if over a 5-year period, they consistently do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM 10 (particulate matter that is 10 microns or less in diameter).
The 17 such cities in the state included Agra, Anpara, Noida, Bareilly, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Firozabad, Gajraula, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Meerut, Moradabad, Rae Bareli, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Khurja and Varanasi. Cities falling in the NCR region were particularly under focus.
“UP has 17 non-attainment cities, some of which fall in the NCR region. Officials of 20 departments have been issued directives to step up efforts,” said Ajay Sharma, member secretary, UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).
Officials from meteorological department also participated in the meeting.
The measures to be undertaken included increasing use of mechanised road sweeping machine (MRSM), ensuring no stubble burning takes place, sprinkling of water on roads, particularly near construction sites and fine slapped on anyone violating norms.
“MRSMs are GPS enabled, so we can check their movement via tracking. For other measures, we have asked officials to depute a senior official to monitor activity of staff on the field. Seniors have been asked to visit field,” said Sharma.
“Ghaziabad increased use of MRSM by two hours in the morning and the city got a positive result in its AQI level,” he said.
UP had recently decided to send only BS-VI standard buses to Delhi, NCR region and directed 2,188 industrial units in the NCR region to switch to biofuel instead of coal.
During the day, Noida recorded an AQI of 440, Ghaziabad 410 and Lucknow 174. Officials also discussed the AQI trend in cities close to the National Capital. Uttar Pradesh has to file an affidavit with the Supreme Court by November 7 on measures it takes for controlling air pollution levels across the state.
AQI values at or below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory. When AQI values are above 100, air quality is unhealthy - at first, for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as AQI values get higher.
