9 Urban Areas In State Have Below Standard Air Quality
Punjab government’s air quality monitoring committee, which was constituted on the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has made it clear to all the departments concerned that they will have to pay environmental compensation if they fail to adhere to the given timeframe to check pollution in nine polluted cities of the state.
Nine urban areas of Punjab which have failed on air quality standards include Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar, Derabassi, Naya Nangal, Khanna, Dera Baba Nanak and Mandi Gobindgarh. In a meeting held recently to review the progress on implementation of action plans for these nine cities, principal secretary science, technology and environment Rakesh Verma had observed that some activities were either non-starter or extremely slow.
Some of the areas where progress by various departments was found to be slow include conversion of industries from coal to compressed natural gas (CNG) or piped natural gas (PNG), conversion of natural draft brick kilns to induced draft, maintaining pothole free roads and conversion to side suction hood by various industries by September 30.
The committee had already made it clear to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) that to persuade the laggard industrial units for conversion to side suction hood, environmental compensation would be imposed on defaulting units.
Other areas where progress has been found slow include creation of green buffers on roadsides in these nine polluted cities, installation of water fountains at major traffic intersections and creating infrastructure to prevent parking of vehicles in non-designated areas. The state air quality monitoring committee has made it clear that the commissioner or the estate officer concerned will be held responsible if targets are not met on time as per the action plan. It has also observed that there was a need to introduce CNG-based city bus service in Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.
The Punjab government has constituted three-tier monitoring committees to review the progress of implementation of action plans on monthly basis.
These include district-level committee headed by the DC concerned, state level committee headed by the principal secretary of department of science, technology and environment; and the state apex committee under the chairmanship of chief secretary.
Source: September 25, 2019, The Times of India