Pollution commission is just old wine in new bottle, implies Delhi govt

The new CAQM will replace the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, or Epca, and the Delhi government claims that the Centre’s ordinance has politicised the air pollution issue.

The Union government’s Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in National Capital Region and Adjoining Area Ordinance, promulgated late on Wednesday, has raised questions about the relevance and powers of the city’s pollution control board, and by extension the Delhi government’s role, in controlling alarming levels of pollution in the Capital.

Children playing football on a hazy morning in New Delhi on Thursday. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The Delhi government on Thursday suggested that the move will not succeed, with state environment minister Gopal Rai saying that instead of forming committees, the Centre should have focussed on ensuring action on the ground.

“The powers to monitor and enforce pollution control norms were with Epca, and are also with our state-level body, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the central body, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). But unless there is action on the ground, no agency can help,” Rai said.

The new CAQM will replace the Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, or Epca, and the Delhi government claims that the Centre’s ordinance has politicised the air pollution issue.

“We do not see how the new commission is any different from the existing bodies like Epca and CPCB. What is needed is actually a body to be headed by the Union environment minister with representation of all state chief ministers. This body should meet on a regular basis and agree on a measurable, timebound action plan,” a statement by the Delhi government said. “We need to fix targets and accountability, else we will keep passing the buck from one commission to the next and the result will be the same,” it added.

Several senior government officials and experts said that the Commission will render state pollution control boards, including DPCC, toothless.

“It seems like the air pollution part will now be looked after by this Commission. This essentially means that the Centre is withdrawing the powers to enforce the Air Act (1981) from DPCC as well as from the state pollution control boards of NCR states. This new Commission will have all the powers -- to direct, to enforce and to make any rule pertaining to air quality. In a state at the same time two bodies cannot operate,” a DPCC official said, asking not to be named.

To be sure, however, nether Epca nor the state pollution boards have been able to tackle the NCR region’s annual winter pollution crisis that plunges the city into a public health emergency. Even on Thursday, the air quality was well above safe limits, hovering around the “severe” mark through the day.

Some officials expressed concern that with the air quality slipping to “severe”, dissolving Epca may compromise the winter segment of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) -- under which various measures are taken and restrictions imposed depending on AQI levels -- by leading to laxity in enforcement.

“Even though the ordinance says that anything done by Epca will not be repealed, the Commission is yet to be appointed. Who takes the call on enforcement till the commission is formed?” a second DPCC official said.

Union environment secretary, in an interview to HT, however, said that the Commission would be constituted in quick time, and will take steps to ensure better implementation of Grap in coordination with the states, rather than derail it. “The implementation of Grap will not stop under the ordinance,” he said.