The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Central Pollution Control Boards (CPCBs) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) of respective regions to submit the status of State Action Plans to combat Air Pollution by October 10, 2021.
The tribunal order stated that the air is an important element of human life, without which no one can survive and said, “So, under such circumstances, the governments are also directed to come up with a proper action plan, as most of the sources of air pollution-related to different departments, in respect of which policy decision will have to be taken at the state government.”
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The NGT for the southern area has specially asked the CPCB and some states including Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu to submit the State Action Plans by the first week of October.
Ritwick Dutta of the Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE) represented the petitioners. He told the renowned media agency IANS that the petition has been filed at all benches – northern, southern, eastern, and western, around two months back to push the preparation of SAPs.
Dutta told the media agency, “While the southern bench on September 16 gave October 10 as the deadline for states in south India to come up with SAPs, the eastern bench at Kolkata on August 24 had sought responses from the CPCB, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha as to why their SAPs is not yet prepared? We also had a similar directive from the central bench at Bhopal that sought to know the status for central states.”
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The NCAP, a national-level strategy launched by the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry, monitors air quality and oversees the comprehensive mitigation strategies. NCAP declares the cities as non-attainment if they do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM 10 (Particulate matter 10 microns or less in diameter) over 5 years. To date, there are 132 non-attainment cities across the country.
Under the NCAP, the states and the cities would be provided infrastructure for establishing air monitoring stations, and centrally monitor vehicular emission, garbage burning and other aspects.