Good on paper, guidelines need proper implementation

Experts believe that the new air pollution guidelines in Mumbai are a step in the right direction, but implementation and enforcement will be key. They suggest that better monitoring, including video surveillance and technology to track pollution levels, is necessary. Some experts express doubt about the effectiveness of the guidelines, pointing out that similar measures in the past have not been properly implemented. They also highlight that the guidelines only address pollution from the construction sector and that other sources of pollution, such as vehicular emissions and burning of garbage, need to be addressed as well.

Mumbai The new air pollution regulation might be full of lofty promises on paper, but everything rests on their implementation, feel experts.

HT Image

“The new guidelines are good, at least to control the pollution from the construction sector, which is a significant pollutant,” said SN Tripathi, professor from IIT-Kanpur and

member of the steering committee of the National Clean Air Programme. “But they will have to be accompanied with better monitoring to enable enforcement.”

Tripathi explained that manual enforcement would likely not cut it. Monitoring would need to be done with proper technology. “The squads should have access to the pollution levels from the sensors installed at the construction sites. But these can be tampered with, so there also needs to be a video surveillance, and a system that checks the guidelines are being followed,” he said.

This was echoed by Gufran Beig, chair professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and founder of System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR). “These guidelines already exist. The issue is of implementation, which will probably be stricter after this notification. But this remains to be seen,” he said.

According to him, the fact that these guidelines are in response to citizen and media furore about the rising air pollution in the city, earlier than expected, is a sign of the lack of seriousness of the corporation. “These efforts should have been taken preemptively, and implementation should have begun well in advance. Why weren’t they?” he asked.

All the experts, however, were of the opinion that the new guidelines aren’t enough to solve the problem of air pollution in the city. Many construction sites are in the broader MMR region, also contributing to the rising AQI levels in Greater Mumbai, reminded Dahiya. Without all the regions also partaking in the guidelines, this action would be lacking.

“There are many other sources of pollution in the city, like vehicular emissions and the burning of garbage,” said Tripathi. Beig brought to attention the traffic snarls in the city, recommending that traffic and dust hot spots in the city need to be identified and targeted water sprinkling be carried out there.

Rakesh Kumar, former director of CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute called the guidelines a good beginning. “Concerted efforts wherein simultaneous assessment of any measures at (construction) sites before and after will bring confidence in those measures. We shouldn’t, however, forget that air pollution is a combination of many sources and they all need to be addressed. Sources such as bakeries, crematoria, tandoors, dry cleaners etc are equally important,” said Kumar.