By Srajan-
A dense blanket of smog settled in Delhi as the air pollution levels in the national capital remained ‘very poor’ as the air quality was recorded around 350 on Tuesday early morning.
To handle the nasty issue of pollution in Delhi-NCR, President Ram Nath Kovind has signed an ordinance or executive order for the formation of a committee to look into the air quality management in Delhi and its adjoining areas.
The ordinance comes ahead of Thursday’s hearing of the pollution issue in the Supreme Court. On Monday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that it would create a permanent body through legislation to deal with the annual air pollution problem in Delhi and its surrounding areas.
The new commission will replace the earlier EPCA (Environment Pollution and Prevention Control Authority) which was formed by the Supreme Court to tackle the crisis of pollution.
The new commission will be comprising of 17 members who will have full executive authority to take decisions in curbing the menace.
The commission also has the liberty to take up suo moto matters based on complaints and take strict action against any entity.
To make the commission efficient, strict punishment has been decided for anti- social elements to avoid hinderance in managing the pollution crisis.
The ordinance has made such offense to be non-cognisable and triable under the jurisdiction of National Green Tribunal Court(NGT) court.
The commission will be chaired by a government official of the rank of Secretary or Chief Secretary and will include representatives from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. To make the commision more organised and fruitful the commission will have 3 sub-committees :
1. Sub committee on monitoring and identification
2. Sub committee on safety and enforcement
3 Sub committee on research and development