Lok Sabha Question No. 2 (STARRED), answered on 2021-11-29
Subject: Policy on Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. 2

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2021

## Policy on Air Pollution

## *2.SHRI B. B.PATIL:

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

- (a) the details of current policy for regulating air quality and reducing air pollution across the country;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  enacted  stringent  laws  to  control  air  pollution  levels  and penalise/punish violators of the said rules; and;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  provide  any  uniform  pollution  limit  across  the country as per standards of the World Health Organisation and if so, the details thereof along with the other steps taken by the Government to control and minimize air pollution in the country.

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI. BHUPENDER YADAV)

(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARAS (a) TO (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 2 DUE FOR REPLY ON 29.11.2021 REGRADING 'POLICY ONAIR  POLLUTION'RAISED  BY  SHRI B. B.PATIL,  HON'BLE  MEMBER  OF PARLIAMENT

- (a) and (b) Air quality regulation and actions for abatement of air pollution are undertaken under  various  provisions  of  Air  (Prevention  and  Control  of  Pollution)  Act,  1981  and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2019 has launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) with targets to achieve 20 to 30 % reduction in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024 across the country. 15 th Finance Commission also recommended for focused air quality managementin 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations.

Further, the Government has enacted The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act, 2021for constituting the Commission  for  Air  Quality  Management  in  National  Capital  Region  and  Adjoining Areas for better co-ordination, research, identification, and resolution of problems related to air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas.

The Government through act of parliament has enacted Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and The Commission for Air Quality  Management  in  National  Capital  Region  and  Adjoining  Areas  Act,  2021for prevention, control and protection of environment. Various rules have been made under these acts.  In case of violation of any of the provisions of the said Acts and Rules framed thereunder, penal provisions are there.

- (c) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) have been notified for 12 pollutants in 2009  to protect public  health  and  environment  from  air  pollution.  World  Health Organisation  (WHO)  guidelines  for  ambient  air  quality  are  guidance  to  policy  makers. Periodic revision of NAAQS is undertaken to include new advancements in air pollution monitoring  and  its  health  impact.  Review  of  NAAQS  is  envisaged  in  order  to  align National Ambient Air Quality Standards with international practices.

Further,  the  several  other  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  control  and  minimize  air pollution in the country including Delhi-NCR is at Annexure .

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## Vehicular Emission

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2020.
-  Network of metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
-  Development of Expressway and Highways are also reducing the fuel consumption and pollution.
-  Eastern Peripheral Expressway & Western Peripheral Expressway have been operationalised to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
-  All 10-year-old diesel vehicles are deregistered in Delhi NCR.
-  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.
-  Faster  Adoption  and  Manufacturing  of  Electric  Vehicles  (FAME)  -2  scheme  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).
-  Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR with restricted use of pet coke in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units.
-  Shifting of industrial units to PNG.
-  Installation of online continuous  emission  monitoring  devices  in  highly  polluting industries.
-  Shifting of brick kilns to zig-zag 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, e-waste, 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.

## Crop Residue Management

-  Under Central  Sector  Scheme  on  'Promotion  of  Agricultural  Mechanization  for  in-situ management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi',  agricultural  machines  and  equipment  for  in-situ  crop  residue  management  are promoted with 50% subsidy to the individual farmers and 80% subsidy for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres.
-  Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) has been launched as an initiative to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make CBG available in the market for use in automotive fuels.

## 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.
-  Implementation of Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.

## ANNEXURE

-  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).

## Monitoring implementation of NCAP

-  Government  has  launched  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  as  a  national  level strategy to reduce air pollution levels across the country. City Specific Clean Air Action Plans  have  been  prepared  and  rolled  out  forimplementation  in132  non-attainment  and million plus cities.
-  ₹ 375.44 crores have been sanctioned to non-attainment cities under NCAP for initiating actions  such  as  expansion  of  monitoring  network,  construction  and  demolition  waste management facilities, non-motorised transport infrastructure, green buffers, mechanical street sweepers, composting units etc.
-  As  per  the  Fifteenth  Finance  commission  recommendations  ₹4400  crores  have  been released in the Budget of FY 2020-21 to tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population. Further, an amount of ₹12,139 crores has been allocated for improvement of air quality for the award period FY 2021-26.
-  City  Specific  Action  Plans  for  improvement  of  air  quality  has  been  prepared  and approved for implementation.
-  Implementation of the city specific action plans are regularly monitored by Committees at Central and State level namely Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee  and Implementation Committee.
-  PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.

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