Set up 14 more stations to monitor pollution: L-G Anil Baijal

New Delhi: In a bid to tackle rising air pollution in the city, lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday ordered setting up of 14 more pollution-monitoring stations by October. He also directed all the agencies concerned to strictly implement measures to tackle air pollution in the national capital.

Mr Baijal gave the orders at a high-level meeting on pollution attended by Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain, officials of the state and Central governments, and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).

“The DPCC will in all set up 20 more real-time monitoring stations. The lieutenant-governor has asked that 14 stations be set up by October,” a statement from the L-G office said. At present, the DPCC has six monitoring stations at Civil Lines, Punjabi Bagh, Mandir Marg, Anand Vihar, IGI Airport and R.K. Puram. Special teams should be constituted by the DPCC to take exemplary action against those who pollute, the L-G said.

Mr Baijal was informed that the transport and highway ministry has been asked to use the construction waste material dumped at the landfill sites for the construction of roads and highways.

The L-G also asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to ensure last-mile connectivity and parking facility around various Metro stations. The Delhi transport department challaned 4,547 polluting vehicles during February.

The Delhi transport department said that it has ordered action against 48 PUC certification stations for “flouting norms” in certifying vehicles on emission. Following an audit drive, green panel EPCA had recently pointed towards widespread corruption and gross irregularities in the pollution under control (PUC) certification stations across Delhi-NCR.

The city has 971 PUC centres. Non-compliant centres have been recommended for cancellation and suspension, the statement said.

While the statement did not mention the number of PUC centres that have been acted against, a senior transport department official put it at 48.

On the Badarpur Thermal Power Plant, the power department has been asked to submit a plan on its “complete closure” and the disposal of fly ash and remediation of the site. The Municipal Corporations and the PWD will initiate placing of procurement orders for diesel run mechanical sweeping machines expeditiously, the statement said.

On the enforcement of ban on usage of petcoke or furnace oil in industrial areas of Delhi, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been asked to form special action teams to act against violators. On garbage management at landfill sites, the Union Road Ministry has been “approached” to use the dump of landfill sites in construction of roads and highways, it said, giving no further details.