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National Clean Air Programme: Ludhiana MC to restart mechanical sweeping
The trials aimed at reducing quantity of particulate matter in air will commence this week: Officials
With the deteriorating air quality in the industrial hub becoming a cause for concern for authorities and residents alike, a slew of government departments have joined hands with the civic body under the National Clean Air Programme.
Under the programme, the municipal corporation (MC), Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), forest department and industries department have been brought under one roof.
Since the Union government has sanctioned Rs 26 crore for the city under the national clean air programme (NCAP), cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu conducted a meeting with officials of different departments at the MC’s Zone D office on Wednesday and directed them to collectively prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) regarding measures taken to reduce pollution. Mayor Balkar Singh Sidhu, MC commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal and senior officials from other departments were in attendance. The officials said that with Ludhiana, being an industrial hub with over 90,000 industrial units and thousands of vehicles plying on city roads, is one of the nine non-attainment cities (areas with air quality worse than national ambient air quality standards) in Punjab.
The city’s air quality index has surpassed 300 and ventured into the ‘very poor category’ on numerous occasions, particularly, when stubble burning was at an all-time high or during Diwali. Doctors say the poor air quality has led to breathing discomfort among people with asthma, heart and lung diseases. It has been decided that the MC will restart mechanical sweeping of roads to reduce the quantity of particulate matter and dust in the air.
Officials said the civic body will commence trials of mechanical sweeping this week. Funds allocated under the NCAP will be used to purchase the machine.
The project was put on hold in 2018 after objections were raised on the working of the company and payment of bills. Similarly, many other points were discussed, including installation of intelligent traffic lights, timely repair of potholes and stubble burning.
Apart from the four monitoring stations being installed by PPCB, the MC has also proposed to install 15 more environmental monitoring stations in the city. Currently, only one monitoring station is operational in Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). Eight screens will also be installed by PPCB at different points to display the pollution levels in the city.
PPCB superintending engineer Sandeep Bahl said a source apportionment and emission inventory study was done in the past and as per the study, road dust contributes to 28% of the air pollution, bio-mass burning 18%, vehicular pollution 16% and industrial pollution 35% to the total air pollution.
As per the 15th finance commission, funds have been allocated to urban local bodies for improvement of air quality and under this programme, Rs 52 crore has been allocated to Ludhiana city, of which Rs 26 crore will be sanctioned and released to the MC, said Bahl.
Ashu said all the departments have been directed to work on this project collectively and residents have been urged to support the administration.
“We aim to reduce the air pollution in the city and a road map is being made for the same. All the departments will submit their reports in a week or two, following which we will start working on ground level and regular review meetings will be held to increase efficiency,” said Ashu.
With the civic body working to establish micro forests alongside Buddha Nullah to increase green cover in the city, the forest department officials have also been directed to establish micro forests within the city. Ashu said that till now the focus of the forest department was on areas outside the MC limits but now authorities have been directed to chalk out a plan to increase green cover in the city.
With thousands of diesel auto rickshaws plying on city roads causing air pollution, it has been decided to prepare a new report to phase out the diesel auto rickshaws and introduce e-rickshaws in the city.
Ashu said different departments including the Regional Transport Authority and traffic police have been directed to prepare the report in two weeks.
