-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority announced on Saturday fresh anti-pollution measures in Delhi-NCR from November 1 under the Graded Response Action Plan. These include a halt in construction activities for 10 days, shutting down of coal and biomass-based industries over the November 4-10 period and an advisory asking people to limit their exposure to the air. EPCA chairperson Bhure Lal wrote to...
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Fines fail to deter stubble burning -Jacob Koshy
-The Hindu Farm equipment which can root out this practice not universally accessible despite govt. subsidy Patiala: Between September 27 and October 14, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) imposed Rs. 8,92,500 as fines — or “environmental compensation cess” as it is officially called — on farmers burning paddy stubble. However, they collected only Rs. 3,05,000, according to figures from the organisation. “The fines are collected over time … frequently the farmers don’t...
More »Latest CPCB data shows that the no. of critically polluted river stretches is on the rise
How clean are our rivers? Latest data indicates a negative trend. A report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which was released in September this year, reveals that in total there were 45 river stretches across the country in 2016-17, where water quality is found to be the worst. In 2014-15, however, the total number of such river stretches was just 34. Technically speaking, the value of biochemical oxygen demand...
More »Paddy stubble: The 'burning' conundrum -Shailly Kedia
-The Times of India blog (Voices) Riding on the roads of rural Punjab, a grim spectre unfolds. It is early November and there is fire and smoke all around for the endless land that stretches ahead. It is paddy stubble burning time in the state. This phenomenon is not exceptional to the state of Punjab in India but is also prevalent in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Recently, there has been much...
More »Delhi,NCR towns need to fight air pollution together -Shivani Singh
-Hindustan Times While Delhi came under flak for running fewer buses than that it did three years ago and therefore failing to enforce blanket road rationing, compliance of even basic anti-pollution measures was impossible in the NCR because of poor infrastructure. The Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) mandated by the Supreme Court to counter air pollution was meant to be an effort in regional cooperation. The entire National Capital Region (NCR), which...
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