Lieutenant Governor chairs meeting to discuss condition of air pollution in Delhi

New Delhi [India], Mar. 21 (ANI): Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday chaired a high level meeting on controlling air pollution in the capital. The meeting saw discussions on the amendment of the Central Motor Vehicle (CMV) rules to introduce a policy for scrapping seized vehicles that are more than 15 years old. It was in continuation to previous meetings on the subject matter to outline a clear implementable roadmap and to take action for short term and long terms solutions for improving air quality. The Lieutenant Governor also suggested all construction industries be asked to use fly ash and fly ash bricks, adding that this can be notified and included in the contract conditions of building projects. The meeting, which was attended by officials from the environment department, urban development, revenue, power, industries, Centre for Science and Environment head Sunita Narain among others, was held to review actions being taken after Lieutenant Governor's orders to bring down pollution levels. South Corporation, East Corporation and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) were asked to deploy mechanical sweeping equipment at the earliest. Public Works Department (PWD) promised to procure mechanised sweepers by April-end and deploy them by July. After detailed deliberations, directions were issued for compliance of the following. -DPCC to set up 20 more real time monitoring stations. Deadline for setting up 14 new stations fixed as October 2017 -Municipal Corporations and PWD to initiate placing of procurement orders for diesel run mechanical sweeping machines expeditiously. -Auditing of Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certification Centres - Transport Department has inspected 700 Centres out of 971 PUC Centres. Non-compliant Centres have been recommended for cancellation/suspension. PUC Centres in Delhi NCR are also being separately inspected by EPCA as per Hon'ble Supreme Court's order. Vehicles carrying expired PUC to be prosecuted by Traffic Police -Enforcement of law against visibly pollution vehicles: 4547 visibly polluting vehicles were challaned by Transport Department in February, 2017 and 60 unauthorised buses found plying in Delhi were impounded. Apart from this, about 400 unauthorized buses were reported in Delhi from 13 locations, on which necessary action has to be initiated immediately -Augmentation of Public Transport - Transport Department to take immediate action on more reliable, affordable and comfortable Public Transport system in Delhi. DMRC to procure more Metro coaches to ensure last mile connectivity and parking facility around metro stations. -Closure of Badarpur Thermal Power Plant - Operationalization of Tughlakabad sub-station to be ensured by June 2018. Power Department to submit plan for complete closure permanently with plan for fly ash disposal and remediation of the site -Enforcement of ban on usage of petcoke/furnace oil/tyre oil in industrial areas of Delhi - Special action teams to be constituted by DPCC to take exemplary actions against violators. Ban on sale of the non-approved fuels to be examined -Garbage Management at landfill sites (ANI)