With the Delhi government's odd-even policy set to roll out in two days, the union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEF&CC) too issued fresh directions to all governments falling under Delhi airshed to control pollution and improve air quality. Under the Air (Prevention and Control) of Pollution Act, 1981, the Centre issued directions to state governments of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
"We have issued directions under Air Act and have asked states to take some immediate steps. These include penalising visibly polluting vehicles, carrying out checks on overloaded commercial vehicles, decongestion of pathways, promotion of battery operated vehicles. We have also asked for considering the idea of staggered timings to minimize movement of vehicles during peak hours," said union environment, forests and climate change Prakash Javadekar.
The ministry is also going to release a final notification on the new construction and demolition waste handling rules. Under the directions issued today, the MoEF&CC has said that the construction industry has to control fugitive emissions from their sites and during transportation by use of water sprinklers, curtains around the sites and dust suppression units.
Javadekar also said that in other directions, mechanized sweeping of roads will be introduced to control dust on the roads. "Directions have also been issued to ensure strict action against unauthorized brick kilns in an effort to control air pollution caused by industries," Javadekar added.
The MoEF&CC and environment ministers of the five NCR states had met three times this year to take steps on the issue of air pollution. Preventing stubble burning of crops in Punjab and Haryana and burning of biomass was also one of the issues taken up during these meetings and for which the ministry issued directions on Wednesday.
