The different civic and pollution control agencies of the two cities of Ghaziabad and Noida have geared up to combat winter air pollution as the graded response action plan (Grap) comes into force on Sunday (October 1).
Buoyed by figures from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), which indicate that the two cities have seen a decline in pollution over the past three Grap periods of 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, officials are hopeful of combating pollution more stringently this year.
Pollution control board officials said the Grap period starts October 1 and different agencies have been directed by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to take various mitigation measures to abate air pollution based on Delhi’s air quality index (AQI).
The adverse air quality has been classified under four different stages – stage 1 or ‘poor’ when AQI is between 201-300, stage 2 or ‘very poor’ when AQI ranges between 301-400, stage 3 or ‘severe’ when AQI is between 401-450 and stage 4 or ‘severe+’ when the AQI exceeds 450.
“Based on directions issued by CAQM, different agencies in Ghaziabad have been tasked to deploy resources to combat air pollution in different areas. We have identified pollution hot spots and will closely monitor any polluting activity. The Ghaziabad municipal corporation will primarily work in city areas while the other local bodies will take steps in their jurisdictional areas,” said Vikas Misra, regional officer of UPPCB, Ghaziabad.
Ghaziabad municipal commissioner Vikramaditya Singh Malik said, “The corporation has an inventory of nine mechanised road-sweeping machines, eight anti-smog guns, 25 water tankers and five big water sprinkler machines to combat air pollution. We have also decided that road repairs will be done by our patchwork machine instead of using other modes that generate pollution.”
He said 25 different teams have been devoted to keep an eye on instances of open dumping of garbage and its burning.
According to UPPCB figures, the Ghaziabad city saw an average AQI of 324, 275 and 230 for the Grap period from October-March of 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively.
Likewise, the Noida city also showed a declining trend in pollution with an average AQI of 300, 248 and 236 during the Grap period in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively.
But environmentalists said Grap related activities should be carried out in NCR cities round the year and the decline in pollution owed more to meteorological conditions than any mitigation exercise on the ground.
“The decline in pollution over the past couple of years was the result of meteorological factors such as a late withdrawal of monsoon.The ground level enforcement activities still lack sting. The Ghaziabad city has issues of dusty and broken roads, high volumes of vehicular pollution, traffic congestion and industrial activities,” said Akash Vashishtha, an environment lawyer.
In 2021, the Ghaziabad city was judged the second-most polluted city in the World Air Quality Report prepared by Swiss firm IQAir. In 2022 report, the city ranked more favourably at the 11th spot.
According to daily AQI bulletin of the Central Pollution Control Board, on Saturday, the Ghaziabad city recorded an AQI of 179 under the ‘moderate’ category while Greater Noida was in the ‘poor’ category with an AQI of 298.
Noida city was in the ‘moderate’ category with an AQI of 168 on Saturday.
“The air quality has not started deteriorating as yet but we have asked all the agencies to take steps and ready for pollution abatement measures and aggressive work in pollution hot spots. The Noida authority has given us a list of inventory of availability of 12 mechanical road-sweeping machines, 70 water sprinklers and 60 anti smog guns which will be deployed as per the different stages of Grap,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer of UPPCB, Noida.
The list of pollution hot spots in Noida include seven areas – Yamuna Pushta and Pushta Road, sectors 116/115/7x, Noida-Greater Noida expressway, sector 150, Dadri Road, sector-62 to sector-104 stretch and sector-62.
Noida officials said these pollution hot spots have issues of road dust, dust due to construction activities, traffic congestion and dust due to activities along the floodplains.
Likewise, in Ghaziabad, the pollution board officials have also identified seven different areas as pollution hot spots and they are Sahibabad, Raj Nagar Extension, Loni, Bhopra-Delhi border, South Side GT Road, Sanjay Nagar and Siddharth Vihar.
“NCR cities such as Ghaziabad face high pollution levels, especially during the winter season, and must have more pollution monitoring stations. Otherwise, the correct picture of pollution may not emerge when we talk about the whole city as such,” said Sushil Raghav, a city-based environmentalist.
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