Activists stress on clean air

Swati Dey

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 20

Greenpeace India, an NGO, held a demonstration outside Badarpur’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plant, as it has been symbolic of pollution in capital for being shut down multiple times everytime the pollution level rises. 

The protest aimed to remind the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for an immediate enforcement of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) by putting a sector-wise plan to achieve 35% emission reduction in three years and by making the plans public.

Talking to The Tribune, senior campaigner Sunil Dahiya said they do not want NCAP to meet the same fate as the emission standards set in 2015, which was not met by 2017.

“The fact that NCAP is not even available in the public domain raises concerns on how the government is going to make the NCAP a truly participatory initiative,” said a statement released by Greenpeace.

The activists urged to “Break free from Coal” for cleaner air highlighting that stationary sources like power plants can be immediately tackled, “provided there is a will.”

According to Dahiya, an IIT Kanpur report done for the Delhi Government suggest that the capital is surrounded by 13 power plants in the radius of 300 km with a capacity of over 11,000 MW. If these plants follow the compliance, the PM 10 and PM 2.5 in Delhi can reduce by 62 and 35 micro gram per metre cube. Dahiya added the current NCAP has hardly any mention on how the big polluters like coal fired power plants should reduce their emissions.