Environment Ministry To Implement GRAP In Delhi NCR; Diesel Generators Banned From Oct 15 [Read Order]

The order is applicable in Delhi and other NCR towns of Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Gurugram.

Inter alia, the authority has ordered:

• Large construction projects, including highways and metro will provide undertaking to the state pollution control boards/pollution control committees that they will assure adherence to the prescribed norms/guidelines for dust management.
• Industries, particularly in the Red and Orange category, will provide an undertaking to the state pollution control boards/pollution control committees that they will use only authorised fuel and will not operate without adequate pollution control measures.

These measures have been recommended for implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which was approved by the Supreme Court in the year 2016 in MC Mehta v. Union of India, and implemented by the Environment Ministry in January 2017.

GRAP was formulated by EPAC, in consultation with the State Governments and filed experts. It is a model plan to control plummeting air quality and is implemented as an "emergency measure".

It stipulates actions to be taken at various levels of AQI, staring namely, Moderate & Poor, Very Poor, and Severe as per National Air Quality Index. A new category of "Severe+ or Emergency".

The abovementioned measure stipulated by the EPAC vide order dated October 8, are in addition to the following directions, which already in force:

• Ensure enforcement and full compliance of the action plan on the identified pollution Hot-Spots through ground-level surveillance; night patrolling so as to ensure zero-tolerance for all sources of pollution, including waste burning and dust.
• Ensure long-term solutions to the growing problem of solid waste dumping, which is of particular concern because of scattered fires that greatly contribute to air pollution.
• Direct mechanized sweeping machines for regular cleaning of roads/streets in shifts both day and night where available. Sprinkle water and take other necessary measures to control dust from roads.
• Closure of power plants in NCR, which do not adhere to the 2017 emission norms; restraints on private transport through measures as listed in GRAP to enhance parking fees, augment public transport and others, ban on construction activity, ban on industry not using PNG as fuel and other such measures.

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