Strong policies needed to clean Delhi NCR air by 2025

A joint scientific study report by commissioned by the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises and conducted by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) and the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has said that strong policies are needed to clean the dirty air in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The study, based on two approaches – Receptor and Dispersion Modeling – found that both PM10 and PM2.5 average concentrations in the NCR were found to be more than the prescribed 60-μg/m3 and 100-μg/m3 National Ambient Air Quality Standards by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The daily average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 monitored were 168 ± 45 μg/m3 and 314 ± 77 μg/m3 in winter and 90 ± 17 μg/m3 and 188 ± 37 μg/m3 in summer.

Industries operating in NCR contribute significantly to Delhi’s pollution along with the contributions of biomass burnt in rural kitchen and agricultural fields. Within the 30% contribution of the industrial sector in PM2.5 concentrations (during winter) in Delhi, the breakup is as follows: bricks sector (8%), power stations (6%), stone crushers (2%) and other industries using coal, biomass, pet-coke, and furnace oil (14%).

Within the 28% transport sector contribution in Delhi, trucks account for 8%, two-wheelers 7%, three-wheelers 5%, and cars 3.4%.

Additional strategies needed

With a view to understand the contributions of future sectoral growth in air pollution in the region and to formulate feasible strategies, future scenarios were also developed for the year 2025 (medium-term) and 2030 (long-term).