CAG report flags defects in monitoring air quality data

The CAG report on pollution in the national capital, highlighting deficiencies in monitoring air quality data and shortage of public transport, among several key findings, was tabled in the Delhi Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

The report titled, ‘Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi’, pointed out that over half of the days between May 2015 and March 2021 in the national capital were categorised as ‘poor’ to ‘severe’.

The report also raised concerns over the accuracy of air quality data due to improper placement of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS).

“The audit of 13 CAAQMS conducted in September observed that though the height of the inlet was approximately four meter in all these stations, there were issues relating to parameters such as proximity to trees, major roads, obstacles, high-rise buildings and unpaved roads. Incorrect location might result in incorrect observations by these monitoring stations and generation of unreliable data. The status of these 13 stations against the CAAQMS requirements were noticed during joint physical verification,” the report stated.

Further, it added that the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) lacked data on pollutant concentration for the required 16 hours daily, failed to measure lead (Pb) levels and did not monitor benzene emissions effectively. The government also did not conduct studies to identify the primary sources of vehicular pollution, it added.

On public transport, the CAG report stated that the shortage of public transport buses exacerbated air pollution levels.

“As of April 2014, DTC was operating 5,223 buses which got reduced to 3,760 buses in March 2021. Meanwhile, the availability of buses run by private entities under cluster scheme increased from 1,292 (March 2015) to 2,990 (March 2021). Thus, only 6,750 buses were available vis-à-vis the estimated requirement of 11,000 buses for public in Delhi,” it said.

“Despite the issue of delay in procurement of buses due to frequent changes in the proposal and cancellation of tender by the DTC being pointed out in the CAG report of 2016, no follow-up action was taken by the GNCTD/DTC to conclude the procurement process. The audit noted that no new buses were procured by the DTC in last 10 years (2011-12 to 2020-21), it further added.

Moreover, it added that the government failed to act on alternative public transport projects such as Monorail and Light Rail Transit, despite budget allocations over the past seven years.

Further, Gramin Sewa vehicles, vital for last-mile connectivity, have remained stagnant in number since 2011 and continue to operate despite being over 10 years old.

The report also identified major lapses in the Pollution Under Control (PUC) certification system which included 24 per cent of diesel vehicles tested between August 2015 and August 2020 lacked recorded emission data, over 4,000 diesel vehicles passed emission tests despite exceeding permissible limit, over one lakh petrol/CNG/LPG vehicles were certified despite emitting beyond prescribed carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon limits and nearly 77,000 cases were found where vehicles were tested and issued PUC certificates within just one minute.

“The audit noted that out of the 969 pollution checking centres (PCCs) in Delhi (June 2021), 664 were situated at fuel stations, 47 at bus depots and 258 at service centres, workshops, etc. Thus, 31 per cent PCCs situated at bus depots and service centres/workshops catered to specific category of vehicles only and were not accessible to the general public. Moreover, these PCCs (bus depots and workshop) had conducted only an average of seven PUC check per day during the period 2019-20,” the report said.

Additionally, there was no third-party audit or inspection of pollution checking centres, leaving room for manipulation. The government also failed to implement modern pollution-checking methods such as remote sensing devices, despite Supreme Court directives, the report noted.

The government also lagged in removing End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs), deregistering only 2.98 lakh out of 47.51 lakh ELVs between 2018 and 2021. No action was taken on scrapping the 347 ELVs impounded, it added.