Samikhsya Bureau
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has joined hands with the Odisha government to ring in the World Environment Day with concrete action. On the eve of June 5, Odisha took the notable step of kickstarting the process of implementing the newly developed “Comprehensive Action Plan for Clean Air for Six Non-attainment Cities of Odisha” — Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Talcher, Angul, and Balasore.
In a high level National Orientation Conclave on ‘Air Quality Management: Building Strategies for Clean Air’, held in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, Odisha chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi flagged off the process of implementation of the plans.
The conclave brought together senior officials and key implementing agencies from the six cities along with national experts to deliberate on the strategies for implementation and to enable cross-learning based on best practices. These plans have been jointly developed by the state forest and environment department and Odisha State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) in association with CSE.
Padhi led the deliberations while other high level officials including environment and forest secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, housing and urban development secretary G. Mathi Vathanan, SPCB member secretary Debidutta Biswal, and forest and environment director K. Murugesan laid out the challenges and the way forward to fast track change in the state.
Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director for research and advocacy ,CSE — the knowledge partner in this initiative — highlighted the scope of the plans. Prominent national experts in the area of air quality assessment, transport, industry, power plants, and waste management addressed the gathering to provide knowledge support to the strategy implementation. The conclave was also attended by officials from the departments of environment, transport, the SPCB, district administration, municipal corporations, traffic police, Industry, development sector and other stakeholders.
The six-city clean air action plans have been designed to meet the air quality targets. Industrialisation, rapid motorisation, booming construction activities, waste generation, dispersed use of solid fuels, and mining activities are cumulatively and continuously polluting the air. While several measures have been taken in all these sectors, there is need for next generation sectoral strategies to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The time bound, integrated and multi-sectoral action requires adoption of several new generation compliance methods and system to control real world emissions, and comprehensive design details of mitigation strategies.
The deliberation highlighted that urban air quality management requires multi-sectoral and coordinated action to address rising air pollution from multiple sources in the rapidly growing cities.
The key highlights of the findings of the plans are as follow:
Air pollution reduction target: The six city action plans have been designed to enable time bound reduction in air pollution levels. Out of the six cities Talcher-Angul, and Rourkela are prominent industrial towns and have the special challenge of reducing industrial emissions and mining impacts. These industrial and mining cities have to reduce their PM 10 level by at least 39-45 per cent and PM 2.5 level by about 14-30 per cent (depending on the city) from the current base line to meet the clean national ambient air quality standards. Similarly, the emerging metropolitan cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore need to reduce PM 10 levels by 27-36 per cent. In case of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack PM 2.5 levels are close to meeting the standard whereas Balasore has to reduce it by 12 per cent. This shows that while industrial cities will require aggressive reduction, the metropolitan cities will require strong preventive strategies at this stage of growth to prevent worsening of the situation.
Number of days not meeting the national standards have increased over time: The plans have brought out the urgency for early action as the number of days exceeding the permissible limit is increasing over time. In Bhubaneshwar the percentage of days not meeting the standard has gone up from 26 per cent in 2008 to 45 per cent in 2017; in Talcher from 9.65 per cent to 45 per cent and in Angul 28 per cent to 34.16 per cent. On the other hand, it has remained stable around 25 per cent in Cuttack. In Rourkela this has declined from 54 per cent to 45 per cent. The clean air action plan is designed to arrest this trend and increase the number compliant days in these cities.
Six city-action plans aim to reduce health risk in the state: According to a 2017 study by ICMR, PHFI and HEI has found that air pollution is the second largest risk factor in the state. In fact, the death rate per 100,000 population at 65.3 is quite similar to that of Delhi. If air quality improves average citizens of Odisha can increase life expectancy by about 1.2 years. This bear out health impact can be high even at levels that are much lower than Delhi as most of the health impacts occur at lower level of exposure.
Need tracking of air pollution sources: As of now source apportionment and emissions inventory studies have not been carried out in these cities. One independent study carried out Urban Info for Bhubaneswar shows that in PM 2.5 concentration the share of vehicles is highest followed by residential sector for the use of solid fuels at 22 per cent. In case of NOx concentration share of industry is highest at about 37 per cent followed by transport sector at 28 per cent. SPCB is poised to carry out source apportionment studies in these cities generate more granular data to inform policy making.
Action on industry: The Odisha government has initiated implementation of action plan for the industrial belt of Angul-Talcher that is part of 24 critically polluted areas specified by CPCB. OSPCB has prepared Action Plan for Angul-Talcher Area in March 2016 to strengthen the ongoing compliance programme with emissions standards; retrofitment of emissions control system, and siting policy. The plans are designed to promote clean fuels including oil and natural gas. SPCB has also initiated star rating programme for industry to incentivise improvement in emissions control systems. The deliberations explored the potential of further improvement and also how management of fugitive emissions can be done at industry level. Pollution management of mine areas was yet another focus including adoption of advanced technologies, and dust prevention techniques including railway sliding areas and from truck movement.
Action on power plants: The state has seven thermal power plants — over 24 units running collectively in districts of Jharsuguda, Angul and Dhenkanal. These are being retrofitted with emissions control systems. Going forward implementation of new power plant standards will have to be fast tracked. Plant-wise plans will be framed for the implementation of the standards. In fact, as per the Supreme Court Order of 2018 power plants in high density areas would need to be prioritsed. Strategies for gas based power plants will be explored and strategies for fly ash pond – bricks, plantation etc will be implemented. More robust monitoring and enforcement strategies including deterrence will be needed.
Rapid motorisation: Cities of Odisha are in grip of rapid motorisation. In smaller cities the rate of increase is rapid and high from a small baseline. The highest percentage increase in total vehicle registration has happened between 2005 and 2017 in Balasore at 272 per cent; Cuttack at 159 per cent; Angul at 152 per cent, Bhubaneswar at 118 per cent and Rourkela at 80 per cent. Motorisation is highest in Bhubaneswar followed by Cuttack while the trend in other cities is upward. It is also a matter of concern that auto-rickshaws in all cities are predominantly on diesel. Strategies are being designed to address this.
Transportation strategies: Several measures are underway. CNG programme is being initiated in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. The State government has a target to convert diesel-run auto-rickshaws in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to CNG. Smart City Programme in Bhubaneswar has catalysed E-mobility Plan in December 2017 to deploy e-buses, e-rickshaws, EV sedans and e-cycles by 2021. There has set a target of 20 per cent trips on electric vehicles by 2021 and 30 per cent by 2030. This is a big leap forward.
Deliberations also brought out that small cities would also require appropriate mobility strategy. Promoting walking and cycling, efficient and modern intermediate public transport system, electric two-wheelers and electric para transit like three-wheelers can provide substantial benefits. This will promote culture of public transport. At the same time Bhubaneswar that has made progress in public transport reforms as part of the smart city initiative can further work towards integrating landuse planning and urban design with public transport. Moreover, cities need parking policy and parking area management plans as a demand management tool.
Reduce tailpipe emissions from vehicles: Experts also highlighted the pathways to improving on-road emissions monitoring and compliance system as the city is making the transition from Bharat Stage IV emissions standards to BSVI standards next year. The national experience in the conclave made it clear that the big thrust will have to be on controlling realworld emissions from vehicles while scaling up the infrastructure for phasing out of older vehicles and scrappage to maximise air quality benefits.
Control emissions from waste burning and dust from construction: In the waste sector, good practices in collection and recycling of waste were demonstrated to identify the clear strategies to minimize air pollution from waste generation, handling, dumping and waste burning. The critical focus was on dust control practices in construction sites and setting up of facilities to recycle construction and demolition waste. Examples have been shared from large construction agencies who have demonstrated how they are using blocks and other materials made out of construction and demolition waste in the buildings they are constructing. Such systems are needed to ensure that these wastes are not dumped but are brought back to the construction as resource.
Said Roychowdhury: “This dialogue will be taken forward to enable knowledge sharing for detailed strategy development, build capacity, design advanced strategies and strengthen implementation for cleaner air.”
