Graded Action Plan will be Implemented in 25 Districts of Bihar

• 01 Dec 2022

Why In News?

• On November 28, 2022, Bihar State Pollution Control Council Chairman Prof. Ashok Ghosh said in a press conference held at Parivesh Bhawan in Patna that the council has prepared a graded action plan, which will be implemented after six months in all the 25 districts of the state where new monitoring stations have been set up to measure air quality.

Key Points

• Under the Graded Action Plan in the state, pollution will be banned in polluted cities with an AQI of more than 100.
• This ban will vary from city to city depending on the severity of pollution level (AQI). The responsibility of its implementation will be on the DMs of the respective districts and the concerned departments.
• It is known that according to the already made law related to environment, it is necessary to have a data of one year to implement such an action plan. Therefore, despite the graded action plan being prepared, it has not been implemented.
• It has been almost six months since the newly installed 25 monitoring stations were set up in 22 districts of the state and the Graded Action Plan will be implemented after the completion of one year after the next six months.
• Prof. Ashok Ghosh said that if the AQI is more than 450 in the state, air pollution health emergency will be declared by the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority. Under the National Clean Air Programme a district-level implementation committee will be formed under the leadership of the DM, which will decide on taking other additional steps, including the closure of schools.