Lok Sabha Question No. 3511 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-08
Subject: Air and Noise Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Arun Sao

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3511

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 08.08.2022

## Air and Noise Pollution

## 3511.   SHRI ARUN SAO:

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

- (a) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  control  the  increasing  air  and  noise pollution in the country;
- (b) whether the Government has any action plan in place for finding out a long term solution to control air and noise pollution in big cities of the country, particularly in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the reformative measures taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

## (a) to (c)

The steps taken/being taken by the Government to control the air and noise pollution in the country is given as Annexure-I.

The  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  is  being  implemented  in  targeted  132  cities. NCAP is a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner with targets to achieve 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024. NCAP  focuses on preparation and implementation of national level action plan, State level action plans & city level action plans of the targeted 132 cites to control air pollution from sources such as vehicular emission, road dust,  burning  of  biomass/  crop/  garbage/  Municipal  Solid  Waste,  landfills,  construction activities, industrial emission, etc.

With regard to pollution in Delhi NCR, Government has constituted 'The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)' in NCR and Adjoining Areas. The Commission has been mandated to implement the action plan for control and abatement of air pollution in Delhi and NCR. The CAQM has developed a framework and action plan for effective prevention and control  of  air  pollution  in  NCR  Region  and  Adjoining  Areas.  Under  NCAP  and  Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) grant programme, Comprehensive City Action Plan and Micro Action Plan have been prepared for Mumbai city.  Rs.250.59 crores have been allocated to Mumbai under NCAP and FFC grant for implementation of city action plan.

Action plan for mitigation of noise pollution has been formulated by all SPCBs/PCCs on (i) Strengthening  of  Monitoring  (ii)    Capacity  Building  of  Authorities  and  (iii)  Devising methodology for addressing public complaints.

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## I.

## Annexure-I Steps taken by Central Government to control Air Pollution in the Country:

Various steps have been taken for monitoring and management of air quality for reducing air pollution in Delhi including NCR. These 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.
-  Eastern Peripheral Expressway &  Western Peripheral Expressway have been operationalized to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
-  Environment Protection  Charges  (EPC)  have been  imposed  on  diesel  vehicles  with engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi NCR.
-  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.
-  Ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old vehicles in Delhi NCR.
-  Faster  Adoption  and  Manufacturing  of  Electric  Vehicles  (FAME)  -2  schemes  has been rolled out.
-  Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.

## Industrial Emission

-  Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR, use of pet coke in processes in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units.
-  Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
-  Shifting of industrial units to PNG/cleaner fuel  in Delhi
-  Installation  of  online  continuous  emission  monitoring  devices  in  highly  polluting industries.
-  Shifting of brick kilns in Delhi-NCR 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
-  Rs.  472.06  crore  have  been  sanctioned  to  82  non-attainment  cities  under  NCAP  to provide  support  for  critical  gap  funding.  The  funds  are  disbursed  based  upon  the performance of the cities as per the NCAP operational guidelines.
-  Further, 15th Finance Commission (XV-FC) has provided a special grant of Rs 4,400 crore to 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations which covers 50 Non-Attainment Cities for FY 2020-21.
-  The performance based incentive grant of Rs.12,139 crore for FY 2020-21 to 2025-26 have  been  allocated  for  improvement  in  air  quality  of  42  million  plus  cities/urban agglomerations under Million-Plus Cities Challenge Fund (MPCCF). MoEF&CC is the  nodal  agency  for  monitoring  ambient  air  quality  and  recommending  DoE  for disbursing grants to 42 Million -plus cities.
-  For  FY  2021-22  for  42  MPCs,  Rs  2025  Cr  have  been  released  by  DoE  to  42 cities/UAs on the basis of their performance assessment made by MoEF&CC.
-  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.
-  Implementation  of  Air  Quality  Early  Warning  System  for  Delhi,  Kanpur  and Lucknow. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.
-  Public  Complaints  regarding  air  pollution  issues  in  Delhi  NCR  are  taken  through 'Sameer App', 'Emails' (Aircomplaints.cpcb@gov.in) and 'Social Media Networks' (Facebook and Twitter).
-  PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.

## II. Steps taken by Central Government to control Noise Pollution in the Country:

-  Notification  of  the  Noise  Pollution  (Regulation  and  Control)  Rules,  2000,  for  the regulation and control of noise producing and generating sources
-  Formulation of Environment Compensation (EC) Regime
-  Issuance of directions u/s 5 of EPA, 1986 to all SPCBs / PCCs for implementation of EC regime
-  Action  plan  for  mitigation  of  noise  pollution  formulated  by  all  SPCBs/PCCs  on following:
- (i)   Strengthening of Monitoring
- (ii)  Capacity Building of Authorities
- (iii) Devising methodology for addressing public complaints
-  Expansion of noise monitoring network
-  Standards formulations on Public Address System
-  Noise level monitoring by State PCBs in conjunction with the Police Department and take remedial action
-  Training of staff by Police Department of all the State/UTs regarding the use of such devices
-  Police  Department  of  all  the  State/UTs  to  develop  a  robust  protocol  for  taking appropriate action against the defaulters
-  Use  of  Sound  Limiter(s)  in  all  sound  system  /  public  address  system  for  effective control of Noise Pollution
-  To control noise pollution, the Government launched eco-friendly green firecrackers.

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