Toxic air: Graded Response Action Plan announced for Kolkata, other Bengal cities

Toxic air: Graded Response Action Plan announced for Kolkata, other Bengal cities

Subject: Environment

Context:

• West Bengal environment department has announced a ‘Graded Response Action Plan’ (GRAP) to combat rising pollution in Kolkata and other non-attainment cities in the state like Howrah, Barrackpore, Durgapur, Haldia and Asansol.
• Non-attainment cities are those that are critically polluted and have fallen short of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for over five years.

Worsening air pollution in Kolkata and other cities of West Bengal-

• Kolkata’s average AQI was higher than Delhi’s on two days during the week: November 24 and 25.
• Exposure to very poor air quality may trigger “respiratory illness on prolonged exposure”.

Cause of increased air pollution-

• Surface temperature inversions, cool air being trapped closer to the surface with high pollution load, play a major role in deteriorating air quality during the winter when these inversions are the strongest.
• The pollutants from vehicles, burning, area sources, and industry get trapped near the ground during inversions, leading to poor air quality”.

GRAP model of west Bengal-

• West Bengal announced a 10-point “graded response action plan (GRAP)” to counter the surge in air pollution during this winter in Kolkata and other non-attainment cities of West Bengal.
• GRAP is a set of emergency measures that are imposed to prevent further deterioration of air quality, once it reaches a certain threshold.
• Stage 1 of GRAP is activated when the AQI is in the ‘poor’ category (201 to 300), while stage 2, 3 and 4 are imposed when the air quality turns ‘very poor, ‘severe’ and ‘severe plus’.
• However, Bengal GRAP, as announced now, is not graded.
• The action plan includes:
  • Periodic mechanised sweeping and water sprinkling to roads, particularly at heavy traffic corridors and hotspots to suppress dust.
  • Ensuring disposal of dust and garbage in designated sites.
  • Stringent enforcement to stop the open burning of garbage.
  • Ensuring that demolition materials and waste generated from construction sites are properly contained; violator sites should be identified and closed.
  • Stringently enforce the prohibition on open burning of biomass and municipal solid waste.
  • Synchronisation of traffic movements for smooth flow of traffic.
  • Continuously monitoring the implementation of norms at the identified pollution hotspots in the city.
  • Strict enforcement of PUC (pollution under control) norms and taking action against visibly polluting vehicles with heavy fines.
  • Diversion of non-destined truck traffic and reducing 50 per cent of heavy goods vehicles except vehicles carrying essential commodities or providing essential services.
  • Strict action is also proposed against the bursting of banned firecrackers and use of non-compliant diesel generator sets.

Criticism of West Bengal’s GRAP model-

• The GRAP, announced by West Bengal was neither graded nor in tune with the forecasting base GRAP model presently being used in Delhi.
• On November 27, the AQI was found to be 241 (‘poor’) from 150 a week earlier, a whopping 60 per cent rise.
• The most toxic air pollutant — ultra-fine particulate PM 2.5 — was the trigger behind the AQI leapfrog.
• Proactively implement GRAP measures based on air quality forecasts, rather than retroactively implementing them once acceptable levels are breached.

Stages of GRAP and respective measures