Govt informs NGT about measures taken to tackle air pollution

The government has told the National Green Tribunal that it has taken various measures, including implementation of Bharat Stage IV norms in 63 selected cities and universalisation of BS-IV by 2017, while considering the gravity of air pollution.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises told the NGT that a decision has been taken to "leapfrog directly" from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards by April 1, 2020.
In an affidavit filed before the green panel, the ministry said that besides notifying the construction and demolition waste management rules, it has also banned burning of leaves, biomass and municipal solid waste to curb pollution.

It said that National Air Quality index was launched by the Prime Minister in April last year to monitor ambient air quality.
The affidavit said that "comprehensive amendments to various waste management rules, including municipal solid waste, plastic waste, hazardous waste, bio-medical waste and electronic waste" have been notified.
It said that there has been a revision of existing environmental standards and formulation of new standards for prevention and control of pollution from industries.

The affidavit contains the details of assessment of air pollution here conducted by IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the Delhi government.
It gave details of the source apportionment study for PM 10 (dust) executed by the Central Pollution Control Board during 2007-2010 in association with some leading institutes in six cities -- Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kanpur.

The tribunal, which had recently directed the Delhi government to cancel registration of all diesel-powered vehicles which are more than 10-years-old from plying in the city, would hear the matter on August 2.