Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday briefed the media about the decisions taken to control the air pollution in Delhi NCR that is plaguing the citizens.
Here are some of the most important decisions taken in this regard:
1. All industries in NCR to install OCEMS (Online Continuous Emission Monitoring System) by December 31 or face sanctions including closure of industries.
2. All NCR States and Municipal Corporations must prepare annual action plans for 2026 to strictly control air pollution.
What are OCEMS?
OCEMS is an online continuous emissions monitoring system that helps keep track of emissions by industry.
17 categories of high polluting industries have to be linked to RTDMS (Real Time Data Management System) by CPCB to get emission data from them. CPCB does not charge any amount for OCEMS connectivity. However, the new rule requires all industries to install OCEMS by December 31st.
OCEMS helps industries meet emission requirements set by local or central governments.
Air quality in Delhi on Wednesday
Air quality in Delhi continued to hover in the ‘very poor’ category on Wednesday, December 3, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
This is the second day in a row that Delhi’s air is in the ‘very poor’ AQI category. The average AQI reading in the capital was 335 on Wednesday.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 to 100 as “satisfactory”, 101 to 200 as “moderate”, 201 to 300 as “poor”, 301 to 400 as “very poor” and 401 to 5000.
There was a brief respite for Dillío on Sunday and Monday, but air quality again dropped to “very poor” from Tuesday.
A thick layer of smog blanketed Delhi on Wednesday morning, including areas around India Gate and Kartavya Path, where the AQI was recorded at 356.
Several other key stations, including Alipur (366), Aya Nagar (360), Burari (396), Dhaula Kuan (303) and Dwarka (377), remained in the “very poor” category.
