As pollution level touches ‘severe’, authorities resort to fines to deter violators

NCR’s air quality has been in the “very poor” category for the last six consecutive days, and Noida woke up to a dense smog on Tuesday

As the air quality in several national capital region cities plunged into the “severe” category on Tuesday for the first time this season, authorities worked to increase ground surveillance and take punitive action against violators of pollution norms.

Smog envelopes Greater Noida on Tuesday. The AQI reading at Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park 3 station crossed 400 around 9am on Tuesday and stayed in that zone till 5pm on Tuesday. (Sunil Ghosh/Hindustan Times)

On Monday, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had predicted that the Air Quality Index (AQI) is expected to remain in the “very poor” to “severe” categories for the next five days. An AQI reading between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

NCR’s air quality has been in the “very poor” category for the last six consecutive days, and Noida woke up to a dense smog on Tuesday to boot.

According to CPCB’s AQI bulletin on Tuesday, Delhi was the most polluted city in the country with an AQI reading 424 (severe). It was followed closely by Faridabad at 403 and Greater Noida at 402 (both severe as well).

Meanwhile, Noida’s average AQI reading on Tuesday was 398, Ghaziabad’s was 381 and Gurugram was 390. Though the three cities recorded “very poor” air on average, some of their air quality monitoring stations recorded “severe” air quality levels at some point in the last 24 hours.

In Noida, the monitoring station in Sector 62 recorded severe air, breaching the 400-mark, at around 9pm on Monday; the AQI reading consistently remained over 400 till 5pm on Tuesday. The AQI reading at Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park 3 station crossed 400 around 9am on Tuesday and stayed in that zone till 5pm on Tuesday.

According to authorities, the rise in pollution levels can be attributed to meteorological conditions. “In the last couple of days, wind speed as well as night-time temperature have reduced, leading to the still air trapping pollutants,” said Praveen Kumar, regional officer, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) Noida.

With pollution levels on the rise, departments have increased surveillance to ensure the implementation of Stage 3 of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap). The UPPCB in Noida has imposed fines worth over ₹15 lakh in the last two days for continuing construction activities and causing dust despite a ban on such activities under Grap Stage 3, which is in force in all NCR cities.

“We are also checking all industries and the fuel they are using. Most industries in Noida have switched to PNG but sometimes industries try to discreetly use other fuel that is cheaper or more efficient. So, we are conducting random checks,” said Kumar.

He added that construction projects exempted under Grap are also being checked to ensure that they are taking preventive measures, such as regular sprinkling of water and covering construction material.

The transport department in Noida on Monday also issued a list of vehicles older than 15 years that need to be deregistered. There are around 119,000 such vehicles, of which 7,000 have been deregistered in Noida. According to information from the Regional Transport Office (RTO), all vehicles in the series UP16, UP16A, UP16AA to AZ, UP16B, UP16BA to BZ, UP16C, UP16CA to CZ, UP16D, UP16DA to DZ, UP16E, UP16F, UP16G, UP16H, UP16J, UP16K, UP16L, UP16M, UP16N, UP16P and UP16Q have to be deregistered.

“Public notices have been sent to all these vehicle owners to get the registration either cancelled or get a no-objection certificate for other districts outside NCR where these vehicles can be used. The owners are being given more time to ensure compliance or these vehicles will have to be seized and the registration will be cancelled,” said Siyaram Verma, addtional RTO, Noida.

He added that officials and traffic police are regularly taking action against owners of vehicles found with older registrations.