Focus on 49 hotspots to tackle pollution: Haryana chief secy to Gurugram district administration

A day after the national capital region breathed its worst air since 2016, state chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora, directed the Gurugram district administration

A day after the national capital region breathed its worst air since 2016, state chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora, directed the Gurugram district administration to take adequate counter-pollution measures, especially in the 49 air pollution hotspots of the city. The directive was given during a video conference during which the state was also informed about the action taken thus far.

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While experts hailed the directive saying that area- and pollutant-specific measures would go a long way in improving the city’s air quality, they added that effectiveness of such action cannot be gauged in the absence of adequate number of air quality monitors in different locations.

“215 notices have been served to people for violating pollution norms in the identified 49 hotspots, since October 15, when the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB)-mandated Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) came into force. Identification of hotspots is a part of the administration’s plan to effectively implement Grap,” Kuldeep Singh, regional officer of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), told HT.

Hotspots include areas where traffic congestion, waste burning, dust emission and industry emissions were observed to be higher than permissible limit.

Calling hotspot identification an important move in addressing pollition, Airveda founder Namita Gupta said, “Identification of such sites can be helpful but necessary action has to be also taken. The process to identify hotspots involves local monitoring in different areas and then comparing the data.”

However, experts say the effectiveness of Grap cannot be gauged in the absence of proper monitoring data in different locations.

Currently, there are only two Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) in the district—at Vikas Sadan and Manesar.

Agreeing that the administration will not be able to monitor pollution locally, Singh said, “We have identified specific locations based on our experience. We know areas where dust emission, traffic congestion has always been high, even areas where garbage burning is frequent. The list has been prepared based on the experiences.”

According to him, through the action, they are reaching out to every major location including those within the vicinity of the city.

According to the HSPCB’s daily action report, the pollution board has served 106 notices for dust emission due to C&D activities, 26 for garbage dumping and 36 for garbage burning. It also includes 20 industries that were penalized for air pollution, seven for running illegal brick kilns, hot mix plants and stone crusher and 14 for C& D waste dumping, among others.

Grap pollution control measures include, ban on diesel generator sets and taking action against brick kilns, stone crushers and hot mix plants generating dust pollution, mechanized sweeping for cleaning of roads/streets to curb air pollution.