Hyderabad: Nothing alarming on air pollution front

Hyderabad: The 6th Air Quality Monitoring Committee meeting to review the implementation of the action plan for reducing the air pollution was held under the Chairmanship of Rajat Kumar, Principal Secretary EFS&T, in Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB). The Principal Secretary informed that, as per the Air Quality Index, the air pollution in Hyderabad is in satisfactory to moderate range and the action plan was prepared by the Government with an intention of improving the air quality index to Good Quality and the action plan must be implemented as per the timelines. "The creation of lung space in about 1,60,000 acres in Hyderabad which include 59 urban parks is under progress," he added.

The Committee advised TSPCB to focus on implementation of the lane discipline, open biomass burning, As BS VI vehicle is introduced the upgradation of the necessary infrastructure for monitoring by the transport department has to be taken up along with discarding of old vehicle and penalties on polluting vehicles.

The TSPCB was also advised to publish air quality data to create awareness among people on the degrading air quality. GHMC was advised for maintenance of the roads and potholes repair. The Committee advised transport department to prioritise the uptake of the CNG by educational institute buses. The committee instructed the Industries department to prepare a road map for shifting of the polluting industries to outside the ORR.

The other members of the committee who participated in the meeting were Neetu Prasad, Member Secretary, TSPCB, Commissioner, transport and CDMA. The representatives from the stakeholder departments viz., GHMC, transport, traffic police, industries, oil companies and agriculture department.