New Delhi : The apex pollution monitoring body on Monday told the National Green Tribunal that the decline in vehicular emission during the second week of odd-even car rationing scheme here in April was not a dominant enough factor to impact the pollution levels.
“The decrease in vehicular emission was not a dominant enough factor to impact observed data. Since meteorological factors as well as emission from various sources outside Delhi in the air-shed varies from time to time, data for different periods do not lend themselves to scientifically accurate comparison,” Central Pollution Control Board report said.
The CPCB had monitored several pollutants between April 1 to 14 before the odd-even period and April 15 to 30 during it to arrive at the conclusion. The data covered PM (particulate matter) 10, PM 2.5, benzene, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide for CPCB’s automatic stations at Shadipur, Dwarka, Dilshad Garden, DCE and ITO and 8 manual stations – Pitampura, Sirifort, ITO, Janakpuri, Nizamuddin, Shahzada Bagh, Shahdara and BSZ Marg.
The tribunal, after perusing the details, directed CPCB to submit the ambient air quality data from January to May, after a plea claimed that vehicular emission was not a major contributing factor to pollution. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar asked the apex pollution monitoring body to place on record analytical data for different time periods before and after the fortnight-long scheme.
