Faulty management leads to surge in Delhi’s air pollution: CAG report

New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), while presenting its report in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday, stated that the city’s air pollution levels are ‘poor’ due to some faults in the management. Several key issues were highlighted, such as a defective air quality monitoring system, pollution certificates issued without proper checking, and a dearth of public transport buses and so on. The report further said that several Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) in Delhi failed to follow the standards set by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Apart from this, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) didn’t follow pollutants like lead and benzene in the air near fuel stations. The CAG also explained that the government failed to provide exact data on the types of vehicles, their numbers in the city, and vehicular emission levels.

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Therefore, lack of information makes it an uphill task to make strategies on pollution control. The report made it clear that several irregularities took place in the Pollution under Control Certificates (PUCC) system. Despite the above emission limits, more than 1.8 lakh vehicles received PUCCs. CAG has unveiled several other fraudulent activities that took place, such as the issuing of certificates in a short period of time, which have raised concerns.

Overall, only 6,750 public buses were running on Delhi roads instead of the required 9,000. As expected, monorail and electric trolley buses failed to operate. The report also slammed the sluggish policy of deregistration of old vehicles. Only 2.9 lakh vehicles were deregistered between 2018 and 2021, out of 47.5 lakh end-of-life vehicles.

The report highlighted that there is a need for urgent action to control the pollution levels in the national capital.