Lok Sabha Question No. 3100 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-20
Subject: State Pollution Control Boards
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Parvesh Sahib Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3100

TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.03.2023

## State Pollution Control Boards

## 3100.   SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH VERMA:

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

- (a) whether the Government has taken note that State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) are understaffed, if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard;
- (b) whether there is a shortage of experts, scientists, medical practitioners, and academics in SPCBs, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has noticed that there is no focus on health while designing air  pollution  policies  by  most  of  the  SPCBs,  especially  the  Delhi  Pollution  Control Committee, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the appropriate steps taken or likely to be taken  by the  Government to resolve this issue?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b): The Central Government is well aware that there are vacancies in the State Pollution Control Boards. The Central Pollution Control Board has also conducted Performance Audit of State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees  during 2019-20. Based on the report of performance audit of all SPCBs/PCCs, Chief Secretaries of all  the  States/UTs  and  all  the  State  PCBs/PCCs had to fill-up the vacancies. The filling of vacancy in State Pollution Control Boards is the subject concerned with the respective State Governments. In this regard, CPCB has advised/suggested State Pollution Control Boards to fill the vacancies.

In  General,  the  Engineers  and  Scientist  recruited  in  the  SPCBs/  PCCs  are  having minimum academic qualification of B.E./B.Tech (or) M.Sc / Ph.D.

(c) & (d): Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  notified National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 12 pollutants in 2009 to protect public health  and  environment  from  air  pollution.  The  notified  NAAQ  standards  are health  based and periodic revision of NAAQS is being undertaken to include new advancements in fuel, technology, demographics as well as advancements in air pollution monitoring techniques, risk  and  exposure  assessment.  Review  of  NAAQS  has  been  initiated  and  the  study  is sanctioned to a joint team lead by IIT Kanpur.

Air  Quality  Index  a  tool  for  effective  communication  of  air  quality  status  of  the  country including Delhi, which transforms complex air quality data of various pollutants into a single number (index value), nomenclature and colour.

AQ sub-index and health breakpoints are evolved for eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2,  CO,  O3,  NH3,  and  Pb)  for  which  short-term  (upto  24-hours)  National  Ambient  Air Quality Standards are prescribed.

Central  Control  Room  at  Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB)  acts  as  a  national repository  of  ambient  air  pollution  data  collected  by  various  government  agencies,  and continuously collects and disseminates air quality information including AQI.

Further, steps taken by Govt. to improve the air quality to reduce vehicular, industrial emissions are enclosed as Annexure-I .

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## Measures taken by the Government for Air Quality Management

## i. Vehicular Emissions:

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2018 in NCT of Delhi and from 1st April, 2020 for rest of the country.
-  Network of metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
-  Development of Expressways and Highways are also reducing the fuel consumption and pollution.
-  Eastern Peripheral Expressway & Western Peripheral Expressway has been operationalized to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
-  Ban on all diesel vehicles older than 10  years  and all petrol vehicles older than 15 years, in Delhi and NCR. (Hon'ble SC order dated 29.10.2018).
-  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.
-  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.
-  RFID  (radio-frequency  identity)  system  implemented  by  South  Delhi  Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for collection of toll and Environment Compensation Charges from commercial vehicles entering Delhi.
-  Introduction of BS VI compliant vehicles across the country since April, 2020.
-  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.
-  Department  of  Heavy  Industry  is  providing  subsidy  on  e-vehicles  under  Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME -II India) scheme.

## ii. Industrial Emissions:

-  Notification  regarding  SO2  and  NOx  emission  standards  have  been  issued  for Thermal Power Plants
-  Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil as fuel in NCR States since October 24, 2017 and  ban  on  use  of  imported  pet  coke  in  the  country  since  July  26,  2018,  with exception for use in permitted processes (processes 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.
-  Brick kilns shift to zig-zag technology or vertical shaft or use Piped Natural Gas as fuel in brick making to reduce pollution.
-  System and Procedure for Emission Compliance Testing of Retro-fit Emission
-  Control  Devices  (RECD)  for  Diesel  Power  Generating  Set  Engines  up  to  Gross Mechanical Power 800 kW developed.
-  Development of low carbon strategies across sectors such as phasing out older coal based power plants, compliance of standards, City Gas Distribution (CGD) network, emphasis on improved power reliability in urban areas, etc.

## iii. Air Pollution due to dust and burning of waste:

-  Notification of seven waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, ewaste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste, hazardous waste and battery 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.
-  Bio-mining of three dumpsites at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur is being carried out.
-  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 Centers. In 2022, the Scheme has been merged with Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) and SMAM has been merged with RashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana (RKVY).
-  The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) on 17.09.2021 directed the coal-based Thermal Power plants situated up to a radius of 300 Km of Delhi to co-fire biomass based Pellets, Torrefied Pellets/Briquettes (with focus on paddy straw) with Coal (up to 5-10%).

## iv. 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 satellite-based monitoring.

## v. National Clean Air Programme:

-  With the prime objective of abating Air Pollution, the Ministry, in 2019 launched a National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  as  a  National-level  Strategy  outlining  the actions for reducing the levels of air pollution at city and regional scales in India.
-  NCAP  targets  to  achieve  reduction  upto  40%  in  Particulate  Matter10  (PM10) concentrations  or  achieve  National  Ambient  Air  Quality  Standards  by  2025-26  in targeted 131 cities across the country.
-  Under NCAP, Non-attainment cities have been identified based on ambient air quality levels  exceeding  National  Ambient  Air  Quality  Standards  (NAAQS)  which  were notified  to  protect  human  health.  City  Specific  Clean  Air  Action  Plans  have  been prepared  and  rolled  out  for  implementation  in  131  non-attainment  and  million  plus cities.
-  Activities in these cities include strengthening of ambient air quality network, source apportionment studies, dust mitigation equipment, composting units, infrastructure for non-motorized transport, shifting to clean energy in unorganized sectors, etc.
-  The  NCAP  focuses  on  multi-sectoral  sources  of  pollution  including  power  plants, industries, vehicles, open burning of waste, construction & demolition activities, etc.; inter-Ministerial  coordination  for  convergence  of  actions  and  interventions;  and partnership with Institutes of National repute and International Agencies as Knowledge Partners
-  PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.

## vi. Other Steps:

-  Public Grievances and Response System (PGRS) is developed under NCAP.
-  Emergency Response System (ERS) has been prepared in NCAP cities.
-  Air quality monitoring cell has been constituted across the country in NCAP Cities.
-  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).
-  Introduction  of  green  crackers  with  low  emission  and  noise  levels.  Green  Crackers have 30% potential reduction of PM and gaseous emissions compared to conventional firework.
-  Ministry is promoting people's participation and awareness building among citizens for environmental conservation through Green Good Deeds that focus on promotion of  cycling,  saving  water  and  electricity,  growing  trees,  proper  maintenance  of vehicles, following of lane discipline and reducing congestion on roads by car-pooling etc.
-  Extension of UjawalaYojana to ensure shifting to cleaner fuel.
-  Swacch Bharat Mission and Waste Management initiatives.
-  The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has come out with a policy to curb air pollution in NCR, along with a standard list of approved fuels for NCR for industrial and other applications.