Scheme to control dispersed air pollution to come in 3 MCDs

New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS) A project to control air pollution from non-point dispersed sources will be implemented in areas of all three Delhi MCD areas with special focus on the winter season, an Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry statement said on Tuesday.

According to the statement, at the review meeting held by the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) on October 21, it was decided that the project will go live in North DMC, East DMC and NDMC from October 27 "with improved inter-agency coordination among Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Nodal Officers and support from other agencies concerned. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has also been formulated for this purpose".

The project is a result of yet another pilot project carried out in December 2020 by the CAQM in NCR and adjoining areas with the support of NGO, Air Pollution Action Group (A-PAG) in an area that falls under South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) jurisdiction to abate air pollution from large number of non-point dispersed sources.

As per the Ministry, the pilot project was successful in identifying about 17,290 issues in 104 wards of South DMC, out of which 10,900 (63 per cent) of the issues pertain to the SDMC and the rest 6,400 (37 per cent) have been assigned to other agencies.

Under this pilot project, the SDMC has successfully resolved 95 per cent of the issues pertaining to its own jurisdiction, the ministry said.

The main focus of the project was to help ground-level officials understand the linkages between their daily tasks and the quality of air, to identify issues that contribute to spike in air pollution levels, allocation of issues identified and further tag them to the agencies concerned, and ground-level reporting of resolution of the issues by the authorities concerned.

"Enhancement of SmartCity 311 App to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the complaint redressal process and review process to follow through on-ground survey procedure and ensure high standards while resolving the issues, were the other main points," the statement added.