A war of words erupted between the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) and Delhi's Transport Minister, Kailash Gahlot, on Friday over who is doing enough to bring under control NCR's poor air quality.

Highlights

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EPCA chair writes strongly worded letter censuring Delhi govt over its efforts to tackle pollution.
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Letter triggered by Delhi minister saying EPCA should issue directions to other states to control pollution.
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'Fingerpointing will not suffice. Action will,' EPCA chair wrote.

The argument was triggered by AAP leader Gahlot remarking on Thursday that the Supreme Court-mandated EPCA had been issuing directions to the Delhi government alone and not the Punjab, Haryana or Uttar Pradesh governments to control pollution.

EPCA chairperson Bhure Lal wrote a strongly worded letter to Gahlot on Friday answering all the charges against the expert body and criticising him for doing little to augment the city's public transport.

"In our May 2016 report, after working with the DDA, we had explained that there was land available for parking of 2000 buses within the available infrastructure. However, we find that as yet, no buses have been procured," Lal wrote.

"The Delhi Cabinet recently approved a proposal to purchase 2,000 standardsize (sic) CNG buses to strengthen the depleting fleet of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). EPCA had also pitched for multi-level parking for better utilisation of land in DTC terminals," Lal said, adding that the DDA (Delhi Development Authority) had made changes in the Master Plan for this.

"But we are finding it difficult to identify what actions have been taken by your government to speed up the procurement of buses for which parking space is available," the EPCA chief said, stressing on the need to avoid finger-pointing.

ODD-EVEN

Lal also wondered why the Delhi government announced that it would enforce the odd-even scheme before EPCA could assess the situation.

"We had not issued any directions to enforce oddeven scheme as CPCB said the weather would improve by November 11 or 12. But even before we could arrive at a decision, your government decided to announce odd-even from November 13," Lal said, adding EPCA was not in favour of any exemptions.

"The government's lack of action has led to the weakening of measures implemented under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP)," the EPCA said, citing its decision to lift the four-fold hike in parking fees.

On Gahlot's contention that EPCA needs to advise cities in the NCR to implement measures under the GRAP as well, Lal replied that the neighbouring states were in fact doing more than their share.

He cited the example of EPCA directing them to shut stone crushers, brick kilns and hot mix plants and also their cooperation in diverting non-destined (to Delhi) trucks and also allowing turn-around of trucks in their states.

"Not to say that this is enough. At the onset of winter, pollution is on all days at the very poor level and efforts of governments must be ensure that this situation improves and certainly does not get worse. The current air quality is not acceptable. Fingerpointing will not suffice. Action will," he wrote.

Meanwhile, censured by EPCA, the Delhi government on Thursday announced that 2,000 new CNG buses will be rolled out in next one year.

The rollout plan for the procurement of 2,000 CNG-propelled standard non-AC buses - 1,000 each for DTC and Cluster Scheme - has been finalised by the Transport department.

For the procurement of 1,000 cluster buses, the Notice Inviting Tender is likely to be issued by November 30, 2017, and the department has been directed to complete the rollout of these within 10 months, said a statement issued by Gahlot.

'Stop fingerpointing': Pollution body chief censures Delhi govt over capital's air quality

"Fingerpointing will not suffice. Action will," Environment Pollution Control Authority chairperson Bhure Lal wrote in a letter to Delhi government over the latter's efforts to tackle pollution in the national capital.

Highlights