NEW DELHI: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 21 hotspots that are facing high pollution levels in Delhi-NCR and directed the municipal corporations to take “focussed actions” in these areas.Out of the total 21, 15 are in Delhi and include Anand Vihar, Bawana, CRRI Mathura Road, DTU, Karni Singh Shooting Range, Dwarka-Sector 8, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, NSIT Dwarka, Narela, Okhla Phase-2, R K Puram, Rohini, Shadipur, and Wazirpur. Many of these hotspots are reeling under ‘severe’ pollution.
In NCR, six hotspots were identified including Sector- 16A in Faridabad, Vikas Sadan in Gurugram, Vasundhara in Ghaziabad, Knowledge Park - III in Greater Noida, Sector -125 in Noida, and RIICO Ind Area III in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.A CPCB taskforce, which held a meeting on Tuesday, asked the municipal corporations of Delhi and adjacent NCR towns such as Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Gurugram, and other agencies concerned to make “focused actions in the hotspot areas and also directed all agencies to ensure effective implementation of actions”.
The task force directed authorities to carry out inspection in the Loni Bhopura area, which has recorded repeated complaints of violations of norms related with pollution-causing activities, according to minutes of the meeting.The task force, comprising members from the India Meteorological Department, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, reviewed the status of ambient air quality of the city.
In the meeting, the task force members were apprised about the level of air pollution in Delhi-NCR. The CPCB urged the members to bring the air quality in poor range from very poor category.On Tuesday, the average Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 352, which falls in the ‘very poor’ category. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’ and 401 and 500 is considered to be ‘severe’.