New Delhi: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, on Thursday stressed that “non-conforming polluting industries” in the NCR region must be dealt with firmly, following a ‘Zero-Tolerance’ policy.
Reviewing the comprehensive plans submitted by NCR States, focusing on stakeholder engagement and behavioural change communication to tackle air pollution, Yadav underlined the need to fix responsibility for violations and defaults, according to an official statement.
He emphasised that State Pollution Control Boards must focus on identified air pollution hotspots and prepare practical and effective action plans for their mitigation.
The Minister, in his interaction with the NCR State Governments, stressed that coordinated and focused stakeholder engagement is essential to make efforts to tackle air pollution more effective.
The Minister reviewed the Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) activities proposed by different States and emphasised that these should be undertaken in a coordinated manner for greater outreach and impact.
Yadav has conducted more than 25 meetings held over the last one year to review individual air quality management plans of the Municipal Bodies in NCR and the action taken by them to achieve the targets.
These have resulted in crystallisation of the individual State action plans, encompassing a range of on-ground activities to tackle the identified sources of air pollution, besides the stakeholder engagement plan reviewed on Thursday.
Welcoming detailed action plans prepared by the NCR State Governments to ensure citizen participation in tackling air pollution, the Minister highlighted specific initiatives undertaken by the States and urged other States to adopt and replicate best practices.
Yadav emphasised that IEC activities alone will not be sufficient, and that effective implementation and enforcement remain critical to tackling air pollution.
He informed that a review meeting at the level of the Union Minister would be held in September to assess the progress of initiatives and action taken by States.
He reassured the NCR State Governments that the Centre would extend full support to their efforts for Air Quality Management.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary (MoEFCC), Chairman, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), and other senior officers from MoEFCC and CAQM.
Representation from the State governments included Environment Ministers and Secretaries, as well as the Chairpersons and Member Secretaries of the Pollution Control Boards of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, along with the Agriculture Minister and Agriculture Secretary and the Environment Secretary of Punjab, besides the Additional Chief Secretary and Environment Secretary of Rajasthan, the statement said.
(IANS)
