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The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) presented an action plan January 2, 2024 to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) aimed at improving the air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) and its surrounding areas.
The document was in response to a directive issued December 6, 2023 (application number 663 of 2023) with reference to a news piece in the newspaper The Indian Express from October 7, 2023 about the commencement of GRAP stage 1.
CAQM's proposed plan is multi-sectoral, detailing specific timelines and identifying responsible nodal agencies. Key aspects of the plan include reducing industrial pollution, curtailing air pollution from diesel generators (DG) sets and tackling emissions from thermal power plants (TPP).
A significant portion of these measures aligns with the recommendations made by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in their air pollution abatement reports over the last few years. The action plan incorporates the updating of emission inventories and source apportionment studies across the entire NCR.
Echoing a June 2020 CSE report titled Report on Assessment Of Industrial Air Pollution In Delhi-NCR, CAQM emphasised the necessity for comprehensive, current and accurate inventories to identify critical areas and sectors for environmental pollution mitigation. The report had highlighted the inadequacy of existing inventories in Delhi-NCR's seven districts and advocated for distinct inventories for industries emitting fuel-based emissions and those with for fugitive dust issues.
The same CSE report proposed centralised steam generation units to counteract air pollution from numerous small boilers in NCR's industrial areas. Following this, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) released guidelines on community boilers last year. The CAQM plan includes formulating a strategy for communal boilers in industrial clusters, adhering to these guidelines by December 2024, and developing a model guideline by the CPCB.
Additionally, the CAQM action plan focuses on establishing performance standards and certification systems for Continuous Emission and Monitoring Systems (CEMS), a point also emphasised in CSE's January 2022 report CEMS Certification System in India - CSE Proposal. This report underlined the need for well-defined certification and quality assurance systems and their respective guidelines and protocols for implementation of CEMS regime.
CSE's January 2021 report Feasibility Assessment- Replacing Diesel-Based with Gas-Based Generators indicated that switching to natural gas generators could significantly reduce air pollution and be cost-effective. Partially accepting this recommendation, CAQM included a directive to inspect and ensure compliance with retro-fitment of emission control systems and dual fuel modes in DG sets in the NCR, a deadline for which was January 1, 2024.
CAQM has also instructed the 11 thermal power plants (TPP) in the NCR to comply with the earlier directive by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to co-fire 5-10 per cent biomass, ensuring at least a 5 per cent co-firing rate by March 31, 2024. This addresses the issue of minimal or nonexistent biomass co-firing in NCR's thermal power plants, as highlighted by CSE in its 2023 report Status of Biomass Co-Firing in Coal Based Thermal Power Plants in Delhi NCR.
Advancing CSE's recommendations on the compliance status of TPPs in the NCR, the CAQM has included an action point to conduct emission compliance checks by the CPCB and make the emission data publicly available. However, it remains unclear whether this action specifically targets NCR power plants.
Overall, the CAQM's action plan appears to incorporate major recommendations from CSE's various studies for NCR. The extent of its implementation on the ground, however, remains to be seen in the coming years.