Lok Sabha Question No. 1918 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-19
Subject: Standard Practices for Air Pollution Emergencies
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: V. Kalanidhi, Ramapati Ram Tripathi, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, Pradyut Bordoloi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1918 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.12.2022

## Standard Practices for Air Pollution Emergencies

1918.   DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY: DR. RAMAPATI RAM TRIPATHI: SHRI PRATAP CHANDRA SARANGI: SHRI BRIJBHUSHAN SHARAN SINGH: SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  on  the  action  plans  for  improvement  of  environment  in  critically  polluted areas/clusters and monitoring their implementations in the North Chennai Constituency.
- (b) whether the Government has carried out any vulnerability mapping to identify the most affected socio-economic groups and sensitive areas to acquire data on it and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has projected estimates or undertaken any study on the risks and impact of Air Pollution on the economy and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) whether the Government has developed Standard Practices for the Response, Prevention and Handling of Air Pollution Emergencies and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) to (c):Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) carried out Comprehensive Environmental Pollution  Index  (CEPI)  assessment  in  100  Polluted  Industrial  Areas  (PIAs)  located  in  21 States/UTs in the country during 2018. Based on the above CEPI evaluation, 04 PIAs from Tamil  Nadu  State  were  categorised  as  Critically  Polluted  Areas,  i.e.,  Manali  (Manali Industrial  Area),  Vellore-North  Arcot  (Ranipet  SIPCOT  Industrial  Area),  Tirupur  (Tirupur corporation  including  Mangalam,  Velampatty,  Andipalayam,  Kasipalayam)  and  Mettur (MetturIndsutrial  Area).  Manali  Industrial  area  falls  under  North  Chennai  Constituency. Accordingly,  the  Tamil  Nadu  Pollution  Control  Board  (TNPCB)  submitted  the  Remedial Action Plans of the above 04 PIAs including Manali Industrial Area, in January 2020 with short term and long term goals to restore the environmental quality within norms.

Government has launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 as a national level strategy to reduce air pollution levels across the country. Taking into account the available international experiences and national studies, the tentative national level target under NCAP is 20%-30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024. CPCB has identified 131

non-attainment cities exceeding National Ambient Air Quality Standards  (NAAQS), including Chennai, Trichy, Madurai &Thoothukudi cities of Tamil Nadu. City Specific Clean Air  Action  Plans  have  been  prepared  and  rolled  out  for  implementation  in  these  131  nonattainment/million plus cities to improve the air quality.

'Portal  for  Regulation  of  Air  Pollution  in  Non-Attainment  Cities'  or  'PRANA'  has  been launched by Ministry for paperless monitoring of NCAP and for disseminating information about  the  programme  to  public.  Chennai  city  specific  action  plan  targets  the  sources  like Vehicles, Road dust, C&D activities, Biomass and garbage burning and Industries. The plan also  focuses  on  Strengthening  of  Ambient  Air  Quality  Monitoring  stations  and  Public Awareness among the citizens. 13.6% decrease in PM10 concentration has been observed in Chennai city during 2021-22 as compared to levels during FY 2017-18. Further, steps taken by Government to improve the air quality are given as Annexure I .

(d): To tackle air pollution in emergencies, all Non-attainment/ Million Plus cities have been directed  to  prepare  an  Emergency  Response System  (ERS)/  Graded  Response  Action  Plan (GRAP)  in  line  with GRAP developed  for  Delhi-NCR  under  different  Air  Quality  Index (AQI) categories namely, Poor, Very Poor, Severe, and Severe+ based on city air quality and National  Air  Quality  Index.  Accordingly,  till  now  out  of  131  cities,  ERS/GRAP  has  been developed by120 cities.

*****

## Measures taken by the Government for Air Quality Management

Various steps have been taken for monitoring and management of air quality for reducing air pollution are as follows:

## Vehicular Emission

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards since 1st April, 2018 in NCT of Delhi and from 1st April, 2020 for the rest of the country.
-  Introduction of BS VI compliant vehicles across the country since April, 2020.
-  Development  of  Expressways  and  Highways  to  reduce  fuel  consumption  and pollution.
-  Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
-  Promotion  of  public  transport  and  improvements  in  roads  and  building  of  more bridges to ease congestion on roads.
-  Network of metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
-  Faster  Adoption  and  Manufacturing  of  Electric  Vehicles  (FAME)  -2  schemes  has been rolled out.
-  Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
-  Promotion  of  public  transport  and  improvements  in  roads  and  building  of  more bridges to ease congestion on roads.

## Industrial Emission

-  Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
-  Shifting of industrial units to PNG/cleaner fuel.
-  Installation  of  online  continuous  emission  monitoring  devices  in  highly  polluting industries.
-  Shifting of brick kilns to zigzag technology for reduction of pollution.

## Air Pollution due to Dust and Burning of Waste

-  Notifications  of  6  waste  management  rules  covering  solid  waste,  plastic  waste,  ewaste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste and hazardous waste.
-  Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
-  Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
-  Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.

## Monitoring of Ambient Air Quality

-  Expansion  of  air  quality  monitoring  network  of  manual  as  well  as  continuous monitoring stations under programmes such as National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP).
-  Initiation of pilot projects to assess alternate ambient monitoring technologies such as low-cost sensors and satellite-based monitoring.

## Monitoring the Implementation of NCAP

-  Government  has  launched  NCAP  as  a  national  level  as  a  national-level  strategy outlining the actions for reducing the levels of air pollution at city and regional scales in India. City specific air action plans have been rolled out for implementation in 132 NACs and MPCs
-  City  specific  action  plans  are  regularly  monitored  by  committees  at  Central;  Apex, Steering, Monitoring and implementation committee; at State; Steering, implementation committee and at City Level Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
-  PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.