Centre directs state governments of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and UP to improve air quality

NEW DELHI: Just before the Delhi government’s odd-even formula comes into effect, the Centre on Wednesday stepped in with the environment ministry shooting off a series of directions with timelines to state governments of Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to control air pollution and improve the air quality in Delhi and NCR.

Environment minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday announced that directions on controlling vehicular emissions, road dust, mass burning and industrial air pollution were being issued to all agencies falling under Delhi airshed area, under Section 18 of Air Act, 1981.

The Centre has further asked all State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) to communicate it the status of the implementation before January, 31 2016 supplemented with ambient air quality monitoring data being maintained by them, and issue further directions to concerned authorities if necessary, for implementation of these directions by January 15, 2016.