The move came after Supreme Court on Monday asked CAQM to initiate actions under the section, which deals with the penalty for violating the Act, rules, orders or directions issued by the commission.While stage-IV measures under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) will continue in NCR at least till Monday, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Thursday lifted the restriction on BS-III petrol or BS-IV diesel vehicles for the personal use of the differently abled people during GRAP-III or above restrictions.
"Considering the practical difficulties being faced/likely to be faced by the persons with disabilities in their daily commuting", the commission considered a request for the exemption and approved it "only as a matter of exception", an order stated. "The enforcement agencies in Delhi-NCR may be, accordingly, advised to permit the plying of all such vehicles for the personal use of persons with disabilities," it added.
In another move, CAQM has delegated its powers under Section 14 of CAQM Act to the member-secretaries of the pollution control boards in the NCR states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan and Delhi Pollution Control Committee to prosecute project proponents or executing agencies in cases of gross violations of dust mitigation measures.
The move came after Supreme Court on Monday asked CAQM to initiate actions under the section, which deals with the penalty for violating the Act, rules, orders or directions issued by the commission. The section states that any such violation is an offence, for which the penalty is imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to INR 1 crore, or both. The commission earlier passed a similar order on stubble burning.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas said that in its 19th meeting on Wednesday, several critical issues such as dust pollution from construction and demolition (C&D) activities in National Capital Region, were taken up. A stringent direction to tackle the persistent issue, including the penalties, was considered the need of the hour and the relevant state authorities were empowered to act, the commission stated.
In cases of gross violations of dust control measures, the member-secretaries of the relevant pollution control authorities have been empowered to act as the members of the statutory sub-committee of the commission to file complaints for the prosecution of the project proponents or executing agencies before the jurisdictional judicial magistrate. They can also order the closure of such sites and the imposition or realisation of environment compensation charges in such cases, stated the commission.
CAQM also asked the authorities to appraise it of the complaints on a monthly basis along with a monthly progress report on the measures taken.
