The level of air pollution in Dehradun, Rishikesh and Kashipur is being measured above permissible limits consistently. This was stated in a meeting chaired by the chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh regarding air pollution. Singh directed officials of the transport, municipal corporations, industry and construction related departments to present the work plans of their respective departments for resolving the problem of air pollution. He directed the officials to attend the next meeting on the issue of air pollution along with the progress report on efforts made by the departments to tackle the problem. Singh further instructed the officials to include the steps to be taken for tackling air pollution in Dehradun, Rishikesh and Kashipur in the concrete work plan.
The managing director of the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation was directed to study the experience of other states in phasing out commercial diesel vehicles more than 15 years old. The UTC MD and transport commissioner were also asked to include aspects like using CNG and LPG to power commercial vehicles, 100 per cent issuance of PUC and consistent fitness checks of commercial vehicles. To tackle the dust from the roads, Singh directed the municipal corporation to include the consistent cleaning and watering of the roads, planting trees on roadsides and dense tree plantation on open spaces and schools in the work plan for tackling air pollution.
For construction related activities, he directed the departments concerned to ensure that the executing agencies keep the construction site covered, not store materials in the open and take strict action against collection of materials on the roadside while drafting a work plan for this purpose.
The officials of departments concerned with industries were directed to incorporate measures like use of clean fuel in industries and banning solid fuel in new industrial enterprises in the work plan. Singh also directed that monitoring stations be set up at three places in Dehradun and at one place each in Rishikesh and Kashipur to monitor air pollution. The public should be made aware about the sources of air pollution in these three cities and the contribution of these sources to the pollution.
Public awareness campaigns should also be undertaken with the cooperation of schools on the issue of air pollution. Android/IOS application should also be prepared for logging complaints regarding air pollution and resolving the same, he directed.
The Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) member secretary SP Subudhi said that as per the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the level of air pollution in Dehradun, Rishikesh and Kashipur is being measured above permissible limits consistently.
Principal secretary, forests, Anand Bardhan, finance secretary Amit Singh Negi, forest and drinking water secretary Arvind Singh Hyanki, tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar, agriculture secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram and other officials concerned were also present in the meeting.
