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Panel to tackle pollution set up as air still ‘severe’
Six full-time members of the commission took charge on Friday, a day after the air quality index stood at 450 in the “severe” category, the season’s worst so far.
The Union environment ministry has constituted the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas, picking former Delhi chief secretary MM Kutty as its chairperson, even as the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to ensure there was no smog in the national capital region amid sliding air quality.
Besides Kutty, who is a former secretary of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, professor Mukesh Khare, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and Ramesh KJ, ex-director general, India Meteorological Department (IMD), were appointed as full-time technical members of the commission, according to a notification issued on Thursday.
On October 29, the Union government issued an ordinance and put in place the new anti-pollution agency with sweeping powers spanning five northern states where it will monitor and act against sources of air pollution. The panel has replaced all ad hoc committees and bodies created under court orders, including the SC-appointed environment pollution control authority (Epca).
In the Supreme Court on Thursday, a bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian posted petitions related to air pollution for hearing after the Diwali vacation. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, informed the bench that the new commission will begin functioning from Friday after the government appointed its members.
“The only thing is that you ensure that there is no smog in the city. We are not concerned with commission. There are many commissions and many brains are working but just ensure that there is no smog in the city,” the bench said. Mehta replied that government is taking all efforts on war footing.
Six full-time members of the commission took charge on Friday, a day after the air quality index stood at 450 in the “severe” category, the season’s worst so far. A layer of smog blanketed the Capital on Friday, too, with the average AQI over the previous 24 hours at 406 in the “severe” category.
Experts said that a delay in the commission’s functioning at this crucial juncture, when the air quality starts sliding with the approaching winter, could hamper the efforts of control air pollution ahead of Diwali. Over the recent years, illegal use of firecrackers in the Delhi-NCR region has resulted in worsening of the situation, with toxic fumes engulfing the region.
On Thursday, in exercise of its powers under the ordinance, a selection panel under Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar’s chairmanship selected Kutty.
The selection panel, which also comprised Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Nitin Gadkari and Harsh Vardhan, and cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, named Arvind Kumar Nautiyal, joint secretary, environment ministry, as the commission’s full-time member. While Khare and Ramesh will be the agency’s full-time technical members, Ajay Mathur, the director-general of The Energy and Resources Institute, and Ashish Dhawan of Air Pollution Action Group, have been selected as the commission’s non-government members. Respective state governments and ministries will appoint the rest of the agency’s nine ex-officio members.
The rules for the commission’s functioning were yet to be formulated but two full-time members, Kutty and Nautiyal, met RP Gupta, secretary, environment ministry, to discuss when they could start functioning.
“We are working on it. The members take charge immediately but I am not sure when they will have their first meeting. Other members will have to be also selected and take charge,” said Ravi Agrawal, special secretary, environment ministry.
The ordinance empowers the agency to make rules, set emission standards, and slap fines of up to ₹1 crore or imprison violators for up to five years. As per the ordinance, Kutty will have a term of three years from the date he takes charge or until he is 70 years of age.
Nautiyal did not respond to HT’s calls or messages through the day. Mathur said: “We have spoken to each other several times since morning and I think we will be meeting very soon. The selection happened suddenly so members will have to rework their regular schedule to get completely involved in the commission,” he said.
Khare said: “I have received the notification this morning, it is too early to say anything now. Once a plan is ready we will communicate our next step.”
As per the ordinance, the members of the agency have to be drawn from Union ministries, departments, non-governmental organisations and the five states of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“We all know what needs to be done. But the scale of action will be very important. The commission will have to take deep, multisector action for the entire region. For example, all power plants will have to meet the new emission standards; all industries will have to move to clean fuel; proper waste management infrastructure needs to be put in place and a strategy for regional public transit will be crucial. The commission will have to have a very strong compliance strategy,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, executive director, Centre for Science and Environment.
While welcoming the formation of the commission, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said he hoped that the new commission will swiftly act on the rising cases of stubble burning instances in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
“We have been seeing the effectiveness of the Pusa bio-decomposer, which melts the stubble in fields and converts it into manure. We hope that the new commission sees this cost-effective solution and directs the governments of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to make use of this solution so that Delhi does not continue to suffer on its account year after year,” Rai said.
Expressing concern over poor air quality in north India, especially in the national Capital, Javadekar said the government will encourage all possible technological interventions to mitigate pollution. “The central government has been working constantly on all the fronts towards mitigation of air pollution. The government is working towards abatement of air pollution by working at the source level, be it industries or thermal power stations, vehicular pollution, construction and demolition waste or stubble burning, which are the major sources of pollution generation,” he added.
An official of the Delhi government’s environment ministry said on condition of anonymity that the appointment of the commission happened at a crucial stage when the air quality levels in the city were already showing a declining trend. The official said the commission will help in better coordination between states in tackling the problem.
“The problem in Delhi is that a lot of things are not in the state government’s complete control. The task of coordination used to happen better with Epca, but now we hope the commission will take on this role,” a senior Delhi government official said, asking not to be named.
Farm fires are likely to be one of the focus areas of the new commission. It will have the powers to issue directions, entertain complaints; regulate and prohibit activities that are likely to cause or increase air pollution, lay down parameters and standards; restrict industry activities, processes; and direct the closure, or prohibit any polluting activity in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas.
