Lok Sabha Question No. 939 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-29
Subject: Deaths caused by Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri Charanjit Singh Channi, Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 939

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2024

## Deaths caused by Air Pollution

## 939. SHRI CHARANJIT SINGH CHANNI: SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

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

- (a) the  details  of  number  of  deaths  due  to  air  pollution  in  the  country  during  the  last  five years, year and State-wise particularly in Northern States;
- (b) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to curb deaths due to air pollution;
- (c) whether the Government has any specific plans to tackle air pollution increasing in the country  especially  Northern  States  and  National  Capital  Region  and  if  so,  the  details thereof; and
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  provided  any  compensation  to  the  families  of  those deceased persons who died due to air pollution and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a)  to  (d):  There  is  no  conclusive  data  available  to  establish  a  direct  correlation  of  death exclusively  with  air  pollution.  Air  pollution  is  one  of  the  many  factors  affecting  respiratory ailments and associated diseases. Health is impacted by a number of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc., of the individuals apart from the environment.

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been launched by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in January 2019 with an aim to improve air quality in 131 cities (non-attainment  cities  and  Million  Plus  Cities)  in  24  States/UTs  by  engaging  all  stakeholders. NCAP envisages reduction of 20-30% in PM concentrations by 2024-25 over baseline of 201718. Target has been revised to achieve reduction in PM10 level up to 40% or achievement of national standards (60 µg/m 3 ) by 2025-26.

Under NCAP, an amount of Rs. 19,614.44 crores has been earmarked to 131 cities during the period FY 2019-20 till FY 2025-26 out of which 49 Million Plus Cities/Urban Agglomerations are funded under XVth Finance Commission air quality grant and remaining 82 cities are funded by MoEF&CC under Control of Pollution Scheme. So far, an amount of Rs. 11,211.13 crores was released to 131 cities to implement City Action Plans in their respective cities. Details of funds provided to cities in Northern States are provided as Annexure I. Further, the steps taken by the Government to improve air quality are enclosed as Annexure-II .

The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has been constituted  for  air  pollution  abatement  and  control  in  Delhi-NCR.  CAQM  has  devised  a comprehensive  policy  for  air  pollution  abatement  in  NCR  stipulating  sector-specific  action points quantifying targets along with timelines and implementation plan by various agencies in NCR States.

Revised  Graded  Response  Action  Plan  (GRAP)  was  formulated  for  Delhi-NCR  to  tackle  the issue  of  sudden  rise  in  air  pollution  levels  and  directions  were  issued  for  its  implementation. Actions  listed  for  different  AQI  levels  under  GRAP  are  invoked  from  time  to  time  by  a  subcommittee constituted by CAQM.

Further,  specific  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  air  quality  in  Delhi-NCR  are enclosed as Annexure-III .

***

## Annexure I

## Details of Funds provided to cities in Northern States for implementation of NCAP

| State            |   Fund Released (in Crores) |
|------------------|-----------------------------|
| Chandigarh       |                       32.81 |
| Delhi            |                       42.69 |
| Himachal Pradesh |                       17.5  |
| Jammu &Kashmir   |                      115.95 |
| Punjab           |                      102.7  |
| Rajasthan        |                       57.39 |
| Uttar Pradesh    |                      397.14 |
| Uttrakhand       |                       68.27 |

## Steps taken by the Government to improve Air Quality

## National Clean Air Programme:

-  City Action Plans (CAPs) have been prepared by all 131 cities and being implemented by Urban Local Bodies.
-  The  city  specific  clean  air  action  plans  prepared  under  NCAP  target  city  specific  air polluting  sources  like  Soil  &  Road  Dust,  Vehicles,  Domestic  Fuel,  MSW  Burning, Construction Material and Industries.
-  Performance based financial support is provided to these 131 cities for implementation of activities of City Action Plan.
-  Further,  funding  for  implementation  of  CAPs  is  mobilised  through  convergence  of resources from various schemes of Central Government such as Swachh Bharat Mission SBM  (Urban),  Atal  Mission  for  Rejuvenation  and  Urban  Transformation  (AMRUT), Smart City Mission, Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT), Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAMEII),  Nagar  Van  Yojna,  etc.  and  resources  from  State/UT  Governments  and  its  agencies such as Municipal Corporation, Urban Development authorities and Industrial development authorities etc.
-  Public Grievance Redressal Portal (PGRP)/helpline have been developed by all 131 cities to address public complaints of air pollution in timely manner.
-  Emergency  Response  System  (ERS/  GRAP)  have  been  developed  by  all  131cities  for taking action in air emergencies
-  95  cities  out  of  131  cities  have  shown  improvement  in  air  quality  in  terms  of  annual PM10 concentrations in FY 2023-24 with respect to the baseline of FY 2017-18. 18 cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10 (60 µg/m 3 ) in FY 2023-24.

## Other steps

-  Notification of Ambient Air Quality Standards.
-  Revision of emission standards for industrial sectors from time to time.
-  Setting up of monitoring network for assessment of ambient air quality.
-  Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like gases fuel (CNG, LPG, etc.).
-  Promotion of ethanol blending.
-  Launching of National Air Quality Index.
-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards.
-  Introduction of BS VI compliant vehicles across the country since April, 2020.
-  Notification of Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules.
-  Installation of on-line continuous (24x7) monitoring devices by major industries.
-  Installation of Vapour Recovery System (VRS) in new and existing petrol pumps selling gasoline >100kl per month in million plus cities and those selling >300kl per month in cities with population between 1 lakh to 1 million.
-  For strengthening monitoring mechanism  and effective compliance through selfregulatory mechanism, CPCB directed all 17 categories of highly polluting industries to install Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS).
-  Shifting of all operational brick kilns to zig-zag technology.
-  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.
-  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.

## Annexure - III Steps taken by the Government to improve Air Quality in Delhi-NCR

## 1.0 Measures for control of vehicular emissions:

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards since 1st April, 2018 in NCT of Delhi.
-  Environment Compensation Charges introduced for commercial vehicles entering Delhi in compliance of Hon'ble Supreme Court order
-  Operationalization of Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways to divert non-destined traffic from entering Delhi
-  Directions issued by CAQM to Government of NCT of Delhi and State Governments of Haryana,  Rajasthan  and  Uttar  Pradesh  for  migration  of  public  transport  services, especially buses in NCR to cleaner modes. All state govt. bus services between Delhi and any city/town in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to be operated only through EV /CNG/BS-VI diesel w.e.f. 01.11.2023.
-  Ban on 15-year-old petrol and 10-year-old diesel vehicles as per Hon'ble Supreme Court and Hon'ble NGT orders.
-  Installation  of  VRS  system  at  3256  petrol  pumps  in  Delhi-NCR  in  compliance  with orders of Hon'ble Supreme Court and Hon'ble NGT.

## 2.0 Measures for control of industrial emission:

-  Installation of Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS) in red category air polluting industries in Delhi-NCR
-  Industrial units in Delhi have shifted to PNG/cleaner fuels and, operational units in NCR have shifted to PNG/Biomass.
-  Directions issued for conversion of brick kilns to zig-zag technology in Delhi and NCR. A total of 3003 out of 4608 brick kilns have converted to zig-zag technology including 1762 kilns  in  Haryana,  1024  kilns  in  U.P.  and  217  kilns  in  Rajasthan.  Brick  kilns  not converted to zig-zag technology are not permitted to operate.
-  In order to control DG  set  emissions, CPCB  provides  funding  for  retrofitment/ upgradation of DG sets in Govt. hospitals in Delhi-NCR and guidelines have been issued in this regard.
-  Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil as fuel in NCR States since October 24, 2017.
-  An approved fuel list is in force in Delhi-NCR w.e.f. 01.01.2023. Industries operating on only  PNG  or  biomass  are  permitted  in  NCR,  except  for  specific  requirement  of  other fuels by specific industries owing to technical, technological and process requirements. Out of 7759 fuel based industries in NCR, 7449 have been shifted to approved fuels, with the balance 310 industries under closure.
-  Stringent  PM  emission  norms  for  biomass  based  boilers  have  been  prescribed  for compliance in NCR.

## 3.0 Measures for control of emissions from Stubble Burning in Delhi-NCR:

-  MoA&FW in 2018 launched scheme for providing subsidy for purchase of crop residue management machinery and establishment of custom hiring centres (CHCs) in NCT of Delhi  and  the  States  of  Punjab,  Haryana  and  Uttar  Pradesh.  Under  the  said  scheme, financial assistance is provided to the farmers for purchase of crop residue management machinery and establishment of custom hiring centres. 50% subsidy on the cost of crop

residue management machinery is provided to the individual farmers and 80% subsidy is provided for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres (CHCs) of crop residue management machinery. During 2018-2024, total fund released to Delhi and other states under  the  said  scheme  is  Rs.  3398.56  crores  using  which,  over  2.7  lakh  crop  residue machineries have been delivered to individual farmers and CHCs, and over 39,000 CHCs have been established. Further, MoA&FW in 2023 revised guidelines under the scheme to support establishment of crop residue/paddy straw supply chain, by providing financial assistance on the capital cost of machinery and equipment required for Establishment of crop residue/paddy straw supply chain.

-  CAQM has issued directions permitting use of PNG or biomass as industrial fuel in NCR except  Delhi  where  only  PNG  is  permitted  as  industrial  fuel.  CAQM  has  also  issued directions  for  co-firing  of  5-10%  biomass  with  coal  in  thermal  power  plants  located within 300 kms of Delhi, and, in captive power plants of industrial units located in NCR.
-  Directions issued by CAQM to State governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to strictly and effectively implement revised action plan to eliminate and control stubble burning.
-  CPCB has framed guidelines for providing one-time financial assistance for setting up of paddy straw based pelletization and torrefaction plants which may help in addressing the supply chain issues and the issue of open burning of paddy straw in agriculture fields in Northern Region. A corpus of Rs. 50 crores have been earmarked for utilisation through the  guidelines.  Under  this  scheme,  06  plants  (Mansa-  03,  Patiala-  01,  Hoshiarpur-  01, Amritsar- 01) are operational with cumulative capacity of 28 TPH.

## 4.0 C&D Waste

-  CPCB published guidelines (available on
1. Environmental Management of Construction & Demolition (C & D) Wastes' in March, 2017
2. 'Guidelines on DUST Mitigation Measures in Handling Construction Material & C&D Wastes' in November 2017.
3. Disposal  of  legacy  waste  by  bio-mining  and  bio-remediation  to  address  open burning and landfill fires
-  Directions  issued  to  DPCC  and  NCR  SPCBs  to  enforce  installation  of  anti-smog  guns and other dust control measures at C&D sites.
-  Directions  issued  for  setting  up  of  a  'Dust  Control  and  Management  Cell'  by  road owning/ maintaining/ construction agencies for monitoring and effective implementation of dust control measures in the NCR.
-  Online monitoring mechanism (through web portal) introduced for monitoring compliance of dust mitigation measures for construction sites.

## 5.0 Technical Interventions in Delhi-NCR

-  Trial  study  of  various  new  technologies  for  control  of  air  pollution  have  been  got conducted  by  CPCB  out  of  which  encouraging  results  were  observed  in  case  of  Dust Suppressant for control of emissions at construction sites and road dust. Advisory have been  issued  for  use  of  dust  suppressant  by  road  owning  and  construction  agencies  in Delhi-NCR.

## 6.0 Close Monitoring & Ground level implementation in Delhi-NCR

-  40  teams  have  been  deputed  by  CPCB  since  December  2021,  to  assist  CAQM,  for conducting incognito inspections of air polluting industries, C&D sites, DG sets in DelhiNCR to check implementation status  of  pollution  control  measures  and  compliance  of other provisions of the Air (P&CP) Act,1981. A total of 17824 units/  entities/ projects have been inspected as on June 14, 2024. Based on these inspections, CAQM has issued Closure Directions in 977 cases and out of these resumption orders have been issued in 774 cases while 111 cases are still under closure and cases of 92 balance units have been transferred to SPCBs / DPCC for final decision.
-  Another 15 teams (other than the 33 teams for Punjab and Haryana) were provided to CAQM  as  Flying  Squads  for  carrying  out  incognito  inspections  of  units/activities  in various sectors contributing to air pollution such as Industrial activities, Construction and Demolition projects, Unpaved roads, DG Sets etc.

## 7.0 Regulatory Actions in Delhi-NCR

-  Directions  prescribing  measures  for  control  of  pollution  from  various  sources  such  as implementation  of  RECD  system/  dual  fuel  kits  in  DG  sets,  use  of  cleaner  fuels  in industries,  shift  to  EV/  CNG/  BS  VI  diesel  fuel  in  transport  sector,  implementation  of dust control measures at C&D sites etc., have been issued by CAQM, wherein CPCB is also  a  member  and  provided  technical  inputs  to  CAQM.  Further,  policy  to  curb  air pollution in NCR has also been formulated.
-  CPCB  on  November  03,  2023  issued  Directions  under  Section  5  of  the  Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to Delhi-NCR SPCBs/ PCCs for strict implementation of actions prescribed under stages of GRAP invoked from time to time, in view of the deteriorated air quality situation in Delhi-NCR.

## 8.0 Other steps in Delhi-NCR

-  Monitoring  and  enforcement  of  regulated  use  of  DG  sets  in  Delhi-NCR,  only  with stipulated  emission  control  devices/systems,  as  per  CAQM's  Direction  No.  76  dated 29.09.2023  read  with  addendum  dated  22.02.2024.  Constant  vigil  on  use  of  only approved fuels in Delhi-NCR across all sectors, including monitoring & enforcement of compliance of emission norms through inspections and monitoring by CPCB and NCR State PCBs/ DPCC.
-  Implementation of CAQM's Direction No. 78 dated 19.10.2023for migration of public transport services especially intercity bus services, to Delhi-NCR, to cleaner modes.
-  Completely phasing out diesel auto-rickshaws from the districts of Faridabad, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and GB Nagar latest by 31.12.2024 and to ensure plying of only CNG/ E-Auto in such areas.
-  CAQM's Direction No.  79 dated 13.02.2024was issued to all agencies for issuance of completion certificates / occupancy certificates for C&D projects only after ensuring that no closure order has been issued or in force for the site so as to ensure compliance of dust control/ abatement measures.
-  CAQM's Advisory No.  12  dated  14.02.2024  has  been  issued  to  all  Municipal  bodies/ ULBs and all related departments / bodies of the NCR State Govts. / NCT of Delhi to ensure  that  all  prescribed  measures  towards  effective  mitigation  of  dust  from  C&D projects,  which  are  highly  vulnerable  to  the  dust  emissions,  are  incorporated  in  all  the
- contract  documents,  agreements  etc.,  including  in  road  construction  and  maintenance projects.
-  Strict  implementation  of  directions  related  to  mandatory  registration  of  construction  / demolition projects  on plot area >500 sqmtr. on  the respective web-portal  of the NCR State,  besides  deployment  of  anti-smog  guns  in  proportion  to  the  site/area.  Punitive measures, including closure directions for non-compliances in this regard.
-  Implementation of a standard Schedule issued vide letter dated 06.02.2024 for imposition of Environmental Compensation (EC) Charges by enforcement agencies across all NCR States.
-  CPCB has come out  with  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. RECDs have been developed for DG sets of 61-799 kW capacity and installation of RECDs is in progress in Delhi-NCR. In order to control DG  set  emissions,  CPCB  is  funding  retrofitment/  upgradation  of  DG  sets  in  Govt. hospitals in Delhi-NCR under EPC (Environment Protection Charges) fund.
-  In  order  to  control  road  dust  emissions,  CPCB  is  funding  NCR  Urban  Local  Bodies (ULBs)  for  construction/  repair  of  roads  and  procurement  of  anti-smog  guns  and Mechanical road sweepers under EPC funds.

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