New Delhi, Oct 31: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issues stepped in to review the deteriorating environmental condition and has issues instructions to municipal bodies and states neighbouring the national capital region. In view of the rising PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollutants in Delhi, the Ministry of Environment has issued a list of instructions for the municipal bodies and the state governments. While PM 2.5 has peaked to 886 micrograms per cubic metre of air, PM 10 has escalated to 1,603 micrograms per cubic metre. The condition would be assessed by the Ministry on November 4 when it has summoned the Chief Secretaries of the neighbouring states.
Environment Ministry wants the governments of Punjab and Haryana to check the cases of stubble burning. The leftovers of the harvest, upon being burnt, releases hazardous fumes, which gets blown eastwards into Delhi. The Ministry has also noted that low wind speed in the NCR region has accentuated pollution in the capital.
Apart from giving out instructions to state governments around Delhi, the Ministry has also ordered municipal bodies of all the three civic bodies in Delhi to check the dust emissions from construction sites. For road construction activity, civic bodies have been ordered to ensure that contractors water the road at regular intervals to prevent release of dust particles in the ambient air.
The Central Pollution Control Board has been instructed by the Ministry to ensure the following directions are implemented:
a) Municipal local bodies in and around Delhi to forthwith take all possible measures to check open burning of solid waste.
b) Municipal local bodies in and around Delhi to strictly enforce rules related to prevention of fugitive emissions from construction activities.
c) Punjab, Haryana and other NCR States to effectively enforce ban on stubble burning in agriculture fields. For this purpose, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has summoned the concerned Secretaries of NCR States on 4th November to review the situation and to further deliberate on the strategy to minimise occurrences of open burning in agriculture fields.
d) All public road owning agencies in Delhi to ensure that roadsides are watered periodically to arrest re-suspension of dust in ambient air.
e) Delhi Police to effectively ensure that movement of traffic at busy intersections in Delhi is streamlined to minimise pollution due to vehicular emissions.