Report by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas, 20/02/2024
Report by the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas in compliance with the National Green Tribunal order, January 3, 2024. The Tribunal had called upon the Commission to file a report on steps to address and tackle the various contributory causes of air pollution in the region.
Towards a programme for abatement of air pollution in the region, the Commission has identified various contributors to air pollution, with core focus on the following major sectors - industrial pollution, Vehicular pollution, dust from construction and demolition project activities, dust from roads and open areas, biomass burning, municipal solid waste burning, fires in sanitary landfills, household air pollution, air pollution from various other dispersed sources, and episodic events like agricultural stubble burning and burning of firecrackers.
A standard list of approved clean fuels was formulated by the Commission and statutory directions were issued for its implementation in the NCR, in a graded and phased manner, targeting transition of all industries in the NCR to the approved fuels by December 31, 2022.
Besides clean gaseous fuels like PNG/CNG/LPG biomass fuels with stricter emission norms were permitted by the Commission for industrial applications in the NCR, beyond the jurisdiction of NCT of Delhi towards an affordable alternative and to minimize the uncontrolled burning of biomass/agricultural residues/straw in fields and open areas. Pursuant to this direction, and a concerted drive for shifting more and more industries to approved fuels, the current status is the following: the total number of fuel based industries in the National Capital Region is 7759 and 7449 is the number of industries running on approved fuels in NCR.