Pollution Control

100 firms likely to start producing green fireworks soon in West Bengal

An organisation of fireworks manufacturers in West Bengal on Wednesday said around 100 member-units will soon commence producing 'green fireworks' conforming to safety guidelines prescribed by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) at special clusters coming up in South 24 Parganas district. Prabesh Atasbaji Byabasayee Samity (PABS) Secretary Sukhdeb Naskar told PTI, the association had discussions with officials of the environment department, fire services department, West Bengal Pollution Control Board and police in this regard. The guidelines prescribe ensuring a below-90 decibel sound and lower emission of harmful chemicals and have been formulating after several court judgements. While 20 fireworks makers have already received approval from NEERI as well as license from the environment ministry for manufacturing green fireworks conforming to the norms, at least 80 others have been given training in technology needed to produce green fireworks. "These 80

New Haryana rules on stone crusher units may blunt the war on air pollution

Easing of proximity norms will not only impact air and water quality but could also turn vast tracts of farm land barred, say experts

Delhi pollution: Why can't Punjab put out stubble fires if Haryana can?

Delhi's air quality index reached hazardous levels. Punjab's share in farm fires is maximum this time. So why has the govt failed in reining in the stubble burning in the state? Here's our report

Anti-dust campaign: Fines of Rs 32.4 lakh imposed at construction sites

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai chaired a review meeting with Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Environment Department officers to take stock of the Anti-Dust Campaign on Wednesday

Over 125,000 old vehicles to be deregistered in Noida to control pollution

Over 1.25 lakh old vehicles registered in Gautam Buddh Nagar will be taken off the roads in compliance with a National Green Tribunal order on phasing out diesel and petrol vehicles older than 10 and 15 years, respectively, from the national capital region. The district transport department has started a campaign to phase out such vehicles and begun contacting their owners from October 1 following an Uttar Pradesh government order, officials said. Assistant Regional Transport Officer (ARTO) Siyaram Verma said, "These vehicles will either be scrapped or a no-objection certificate (NOC) issued for their usage so that they could be used in some select districts that do not fall under NCR." Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Ganesh Saha told PTI that the police department, on its part, was also carrying out stricter checks and penalising old vehicles found plying on the roads. The Uttar Pradesh government order said there were 34 districts with better air quality where such vehicl

Will take 4-5 years to resolve stubble burning issue: Punjab pollution body

Crop diversification is not a long-term solution to the problem of stubble burning and it will take four to five years to properly resolve the issue, a senior official of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has said. Crop diversification and using short duration varieties of paddy are among several initiatives proposed by the Centre and experts to resolve the stubble burning issue in Punjab and Haryana. At a workshop organised by the Delhi-based Climate Trends in Chandigarh on Monday, PPCB Member Secretary Krunesh Garg said counting the number of farm fires is an inaccurate measure of ascertaining the scale of stubble burning and that the acreage of land being put on fire is the parameter to be measured. It's not that the problem is not being addressed, we are mapping it down to the block and village level, but it will take four-five years for proper resolution," Garg said. The area under paddy cultivation in Punjab has increased from 29.61 lakh hectares in last year to 31.13

Govt gives two-year extension to thermal power plants on SO2 norms

The Union environment ministry has extended the deadlines for thermal power plants to install pollution control technologies and comply with new emission norms. This is the third time that the deadlines have been pushed in the last five years. In a notification issued on Monday, the ministry said the deadline for the power plants within a 10-km radius of Delhi-NCR and cities with a population of more than 10 lakh has been extended from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2024. For the power plants in a 10-km radius of critically-polluted areas or non-attainment cities, the deadline has been pushed from December 31, 2023 to December 31, 2025. "Non-attainment cities" are those that have consistently failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 132 such cities. For all other power plants across the country, the deadline has been pushed from December 31, 2024 to December 31, 2026. The ministry also said the power p

Chennai refinery's crude runs cut by 25% as residents complain of odour

Chennai Petroleum Corp said it had cut crude processing by a quarter at its 201,000 barrels per day Manali refinery, following an order by the Tamil Nadu state pollution control board

Single use plastic ban: Substitutes revving up to seize opportunity

Cotton and jute are both vying for space in the domestic market after making global inroads; business goes beyond carry bags to embrace earbuds, thermacol, kitchenware. among others

We can deliver pollution control vessels to foreign countries: Defence Secy

Dr Ajay Kumar informed that two more state of the art pollution response configured vessels for the Indian Coast Guard have been sanctioned which would increase ICGs capacity by 67 per cent

'High temperature could have caused reactor explosion that killed 6 in AP'

Following this, the PCB ordered immediate closure of the bulk drug manufacturing unit, located at Akkireddigudem village in the new Eluru district of Andhra Pradesh

Bihar, Delhi-NCR top pollution charts, air quality major crisis: CSE

The particulate pollution spiked and stayed elevated with varying intensity across all regions during the winter of 2021-22

Don't use personal vehicles one day per week to reduce pollution: Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged Delhiites to help bring down pollution in the city by giving up vehicle use once in a week and turning off engines of vehicles at red lights.

Focus on pollution

NCR needs an effective regulator

Vardhman Textiles gets directive from HP State Pollution Control Board

The firm got an order from Himachal State Pollution Control Board directing it to stop part of the dyeing process which leads to the generation of 'category-IV' effluent in 3 units located at Baddi

All you need to know about National Pollution Control Day

National Pollution Prevention Day is observed on 2nd December in India every year

New body, old problems

Pollution in NCR needs an expansive response

UP Pollution Control Board imposes over Rs 97 lakh fine on 24 paper mills

These paper mills are situated on Bhopa Road, Jansath Road and Jolly Road in the district, Singh said, adding that the department has imposed a fine of Rs 97.5 lakh on these paper mills

Stubble burning: Punjab Pollution Control Board imposes Rs 12.25 lakh fine

A senior official has said that by end of this month one would be able to make a fair comparison whether farm fires have gone up or come down in comparison to previous years

Pollution plan to come in force from Oct 15 in Delhi, adjoining areas

Pollution control authority said stricter measures to fight air pollution will come into force from October 15 in Delhi and its neighbourhood as part of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).