Now, colour-coded air alerts

PM launches national air quality index; Javadekar assures new construction norms in 15 days.

narendra modi, air pollution, air alerts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a simple colour-coded tool to inform people about the quality of air they breathe.

Taking an important step towards raising awareness about pollution across the country, the government on Monday unveiled a National Air Quality Index with Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching a simple colour-coded tool to inform people about the quality of air they breathe.

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Speaking on the occasion, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar referred to an ongoing investigation by The Indian Express on factors contributing to the toxic air in Delhi and promised to bring in “new rules” to curb dust generated by construction activity inside the National Capital Region within the next 15 days.

Javadekar’s comments came after the Index was launched in 10 cities — it will eventually be used in all cities with a 1-million plus population — to show the concentration of six pollutants in the air on a real-time basis.

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Referring to a story headlined ‘Construction Destruction’ published in The Indian Express on Monday, Javadekar said the government would discuss the matter with the state governments in charge of cities falling within NCR and finalise “new rules”.

“Only today, there was a big article on construction waste, what kind of effects it has on air pollution. We have discussed this issue earlier. Construction waste is a big contributor to air pollution in Delhi. We will bring in rules within the next 15 days (to regulate and manage dust from construction activity),” Javadekar said during the opening function of the two-day meet of the environment ministers of all the state governments.

“After all, if (Delhi) Metro can manage the construction dust properly, why cannot the rest of the city? Today, ministers from all the state governments in the NCR region are here. We will discuss it with them,” Javadekar said.

As part of its series on air pollution in Delhi, The Indian Express had reported on how Delhi’s air was being polluted by the huge amount of dust generated from construction sites in and around the city, in violation of the norms regulating construction dust.

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As for the national index, the pollutant levels will be weighted against their standard values and their impact on health to derive a sub-index. The worst amongst the sub-indices of the different pollutants will be used a single composite air quality index, which will be displayed in real time in public places on large screens.

These will be available on the website of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), as well. The easily identifiable colour codes will correspond not just the quality of the air but also to associated health impacts.

In the first phase, the index, developed by the CPCB in association with IIT, Kanpur, has been launched in Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow Varanasi, Faridabad, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai. Mumbai and Kolkata were not included in the first phase. An official said Mumbai has less particulate matter because of strong sea winds and therefore the air quality is not a very big concern there.

But eventually all these cities will be covered, he added.

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