NEW DELHI: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has tightened its monitoring of highly polluting industries in the National Capital Region (NCR), directing them to install pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras at key operational points and transmit live video feeds to pollution control authorities by November 30, 2026.
In an order superseding its October 5, 2026, directive, the commission said the requirement would cover all 17 categories of highly polluting industries identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), medium and large red-category air-polluting industries, food and food-processing units, textile industries with boilers or thermic fluid heaters, and metal industries with furnaces.
The CAQM has also fixed an emission limit of 50 mg/Nm3 for the selected polluting industries, based on a technical study by IIT-Kanpur and recommendations of a technical committee constituted by the CPCB.
Cameras must be installed at fuel-feeding and charging points of boilers, thermic fluid heaters, furnaces, kilns and other fuel-fired equipment, allowing authorities to monitor fuel use during operations.
Industries using gaseous fuels must position cameras to capture gas meters, gauges and associated metering arrangements. Cameras must also cover industrial stacks, online continuous emission monitoring system (OCEMS) sampling points, port-hole locations and fume-extraction areas, wherever applicable.
The directive includes avoiding blind spots in video coverage and install additional cameras wherever a single device cannot capture all prescribed locations.
Live video feeds must be transmitted continuously through the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) to designated CPCB servers and portals, as well as those of the respective state pollution control boards or Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).