The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given Kerala government three months time to come up with a proper action plan on making the the State pollution-free.
The Bench comprising Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta has asked the committee constituted to study the sources of air pollution to submit an action plan for improving the ambient air quality in the State on or before October 7.
“In original application No. 260 of 2017, this Tribunal had directed the Government of Kerala to submit the status report of the number of old vehicles that are plying in the State and the action taken by the Motor Vehicles Department to phase out those old vehicles as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and to convert the same to green and clean fuel technology, so as to improve the air quality in the state. Till date, no report has been filed by the State of Kerala,” said the order issued on June 15.
Air quality
The tribunal had asked the committee to carry out a study on the ambient air quality, especially in the cities that include Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Alappuzha, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Kasaragod and Kannur to identify the sources of pollution. It was directed to recommend short-term and long-term measures for reducing the pollution index and improving the air quality in the State.
The tribunal had earlier observed that lorries and trucks that were more than 10 years old were the main culprits in the rising air pollution level in Kerala. The government vehicles were the most notorious and the Kerala Road Transport vehicles were also using older vehicles without proper maintenance and emitting deadly gases in to the atmosphere.
The Motor Vehicles Department takes special interest only to penalise the bike owners or car owners, but were reluctant to ensure that the buses and trucks in Kerala were complying with the pollution norms, it had pointed out.