Mumbai: In an effort to tackle the crisis of air pollution, the National Green Tribunal has recently directed the state and Central governments to achieve National Amb-ient Air Quality Stand-ards (NAAQS) across the country. Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) officials stated that action plan for cities will be released before the winter.
The NGT observed that out of 102 non-attainment cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), plans from 73 cities were received. Of this, plans of 36 cities have been finalised, 37 are pending and 29 have not been submitted as of September 2018.
The non-attainment cities are those that recorded air pollutants like PM10 and NO2 beyond the standard limits of NAAQS over the period of five years between 2011 and 2015.
“The action plan for the cities of the state is almost ready. We were directed by the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) to make few additions to it, we are in final stage of it now. The action plan will be released before the winter,” said a senior official of MPCB.
There are 17 non-attainment cities in Maharashtra specified by the CPCB. The NGT has highlighted that the measures to control the air pollution should be done in a time bound manner. “It is disappointing how the Centre is conveniently passing the buck to the state governments and is failing miserably to stay true to its commitment of notifying the NCAP,” said Sunil Dahiya, senior campaigner of NGO Greenpeace.
