CPCB identifies 21 hotspots for ‘focused actions’

New Delhi: A Central Pollution Control Board taskforce has identified 21 hotspots of high pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and directed the respective area municipal corporations to take "focused actions" to mitigate the effects.

The taskforce has also asked authorities to carry out inspection in LoniBhopura, in Ghaziabad, from where repeated complaints of violations of norms associated with pollution-causing activities have been received, according to minutes of a meeting of the taskforce held in Delhi on Tuesday. 

The taskforce has identified 15 hotspots in Delhi: Anand Vihar, Bawana, CRRI Mathura Road, DTU, Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, Dwarka-Sector 8, Jahangirpuri, Mundaka, NSIT Dwarka, Narela, Okhla Phase-2, R K Puram, Rohini, Shadipur, Wazirpur. Many of the hotspots are already experiencing ‘severe’ pollution levels. 

In NCR areas outside Delhi, six hotspots have been identified: Sector-16A in Faridabad, Vikas Sadan in Gurgaon, Vasundhara in Ghaziabad, Knowledge Park-III in Greater Noida, Sector-125 in Noida and RIICO Industrial Area-III in Bhiwadi. 

Hotspots are areas recording high pollution levels, either due to violation of norms or due to the meteorological conditions there. The taskforce said Municipal Corporations of Delhi and adjacent areas (Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurgaon) and other agencies need to take "focused actions in the hotspot areas". It also asked all agencies to ensure "effective implementation of actions". 

The taskforce, comprising members of India Meteorological Department, Delhi Pollution Control Board and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, reviewed the status of ambient air quality of the national capital. 

In the meeting, the taskforce members were apprised of the deteriorating air quality in Delhi-NCR. 

The CPCB urged the members to initially bring the air quality into the ‘poor’ category from the ‘very poor’ category. Delhi has been battling alarming levels of pollution for nearly two months with the air quality swinging between "very poor" and "severe", andslipping into "poor" some days.