Tag: pollution

Patna Air Turns ‘Severe’; Supreme Court Issues Notice to All States on Pollution.

Source – weather.com

In an unprecedented step, the Supreme Court issued a notice to all Indian states and Union Territories on Monday, seeking their response on why they should not be held accountable to pay compensation to people for not providing clean air.

Even on the day of the hearing on air pollution, November 25, two cities from the state of Bihar recorded the highest AQIs as reported in the Daily Air Quality Index (AQI) Bulletin by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Patna was the most polluted city in the country with ‘severe’ 24-hour average AQI of 404.

Are authorities neglecting environmental issues in cities?

In a three-hour hearing, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising Deepak Gupta said: “The AQI is extremely poor in many cities and towns. We also need to know how they are managing garbage. It appears that these issues have lost priorities for the authorities.”

Pollution levels in the country, particularly in the northern half of the state, consistently rise during the post-monsoon season. While the air quality worsens in almost all the regions, some states and union territories have persistently recorded the poorest air quality since the past few years.

Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab are some of the regions where unhealthy air has lately become the norm.

Eastern cities most polluted on Monday

Patna and Muzaffarpur were the most polluted cities on Monday with AQI values of 404 (severe) and 393 (very poor) respectively. They were followed by West Bengal’s Howrah (329) and Asansol (324).

While the entire Indo-Gangetic plain is often the most polluted region in the country mainly due to geographic and meteorological reasons, so far this season, northwestern cities from Delhi NCR and Haryana had remained the most polluted cities. On Monday, only cities from Bihar and West Bengal remained the most polluted with ‘very poor’ air quality.

Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Lucknow and Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh), Jorapokhar (Jharkhand), Vapi (Gujarat) and Narnaul (Haryana) occupied the rest of the spots on the list of top 10 most polluted cities.

Endangering right to life

Apart from air pollution levels, the bench also pointed out the emerging issue of unavailability of clean drinking water in many cities and towns. “Yamuna river has turned into sewage. River Ganga is also in the same condition. River water pollution is a major issue,” said the court.

SC observed that the right to life has been endangered by the states due to lack of response on most pressing issues.

“We have noted that every year, and year after year, the process is worsening…time has come to protect the right to life. Why should they (state administrations) not pay compensation on air pollution, not lifting garbage etc.? Time has come to rewind the state machinery,” said Justice Mishra.

Jharkhand pollution watchdog to go paperless by year-end

Source: hindustantimes.com

Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) will go paperless by December this year, which would approximately save nine tonnes of papers annually and over 280 trees every year, officials said.

The board has already made consent to establish (CTE), consent to operate (CTO) and auto-renewal process of CTO online.

Now, it aims to make all kinds of compliances for CTE and CTO, which involves tonnes of papers annually, online. Number of industries in Jharkhand is more than 9,000. Every industry has to submit compliance report either quarterly or half yearly or yearly.

If this happens, Jharkhand would be the first state to introduce online compliance management system, officials said.

“We aim to make all working of the board paperless by the end of the year by introducing online compliance management system. The CTE and CTO processes have already been made online. But the compliance process is still manual, which is now being made online,” said A K Rastogi, JSPCB chairman.

He said he had a discussion with the director general of National Informatics Centre (NIC) for developing a software in this regard on August 19. “Actually, compliance process is yet to go online anywhere in the country. So, a separate software would be required for it. The NIC has agreed to do the job,” he said.

“Once it is completed, we will make establishment matters online, the last process to make the board paperless,” he said.

The CTE and CTO processes were made online in 2015. However, several features were added to it over the past couple of years. This year, the board has introduced auto-renewal process for a consent to operate (CTO) for industries in the state under the Ease of Doing of Business (EoDB) initiative.

Now, industries do not have to face closure of their units due to delay in getting CTO from the pollution board. CTO is given to industries falling under categories of green (less pollution potential), orange (pollution potential) and red (critically pollution potential) for a certain period of five years, 10 years and 15 years as per the industry requirements.

Now, the green, orange and red category industries having investment up to Rs 5 crore will get automatic renewal of CTO for a year without any scrutiny. However, to avail the facility, industries will have to upload all required self-certified documents on the board’s website and pay the certain fees before 69 days of previous CTO’s expiry date.

The board has also decided to issue a unique identification number to Jharkhand industries for keeping a tab on their past records. It would also help industries to go paperless, as all documents would be uploaded in the board’s website.

Bihar to waive off 50 per cent taxes levied on e-rickshawas

Source: newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Alarmed at growing rate of  pollution, the state government’s seven departments have collectively prepared an integrated action plan to tame the menace of pollution in Patna and other cities.

According to a survey report of WHO, Bihar’s three cities namely Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur have been found to be among the most 20 polluted cities of world.

Speaking at a world environment day function on Wednesday evening, deputy chief minister of state Sushil Kumar Modi said that all possible steps are being taken to check the pollution in cities growing at an alarming rate.

“In a move to beat air pollution,the government has decided to waive 50% of total taxes levied on the purchase and running of battery-propelled e-rickshawas”, he said.

He further claimed that arrangements have been made to check the pollution emission from vehicles at over 500 fuel refilling centres in addition to run eco-friendly electric buses.

“On 45 fuel-refiling centres in Patna alone, arrangement has been made to issue online pollution check certificates in order to down the level of pollution”he said, adding that state government was committed to control the pollution through awarness among vehicle users and systems.