CAQM issues advisory to curb open-air burning in Delhi-NCR ahead of winter season

New Delhi [India], August 8 : The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and adjoining areas (CAQM) has issued an advisory to all Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and other residential societies in Delhi to mandatorily provide electric heaters and other suitable implements to all security staff and other service staff employed by them, aimed at curbing open burning practices.
According to an official release from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, "This is a decisive move to significantly control open biomass, municipal solid waste burning, and the resultant harmful emissions impacting the overall air quality of the National Capital Region (NCR), especially during the upcoming winter season."
With winter approaching, the Commission recognises the urgent need to issue an advisory to tackle the issue of uncontrolled burning of MSW, including bio-mass (wood, twigs, branches, dried leaves, etc.) across Delhi-NCR, particularly during the winter months.
The practice of open burning of biomass and MSW by security personnel and other individuals during the winter season, often as a means to stay warm expeditiously, aggravates PM2.5 and PM10 levels in the ambient air, among other harmful gaseous pollutants and thus results in the imposition of preventive and restrictive actions under different stages of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the entire NCR.
Since its inception, it has issued advisories, orders, and directions towards mitigating the ill-effects of such uncontrolled open burning of waste and biomass.
Open burning of MSW biomass, etc., besides at other locations, is also witnessed across residential areas and is resorted to by the security staff and other service providers, particularly in gated residential complexes across Delhi during night time in the winter for heating and warming purposes.
The Commission's latest advisory to RWAs across the NCR emphasizes the importance of providing sustainable alternatives such as electric heaters to mitigate the need for open burning, thereby reducing the emission of pollutants and contributing to cleaner air for all.
Further, RWAs and residents at large also need to be actively involved in fulfilling the collective responsibility to significantly improve upon the adverse air quality that is generally witnessed in Delhi during the winter months.
In furtherance, the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies, GNCTD, and the municipal bodies have also been advised to sensitise and widely disseminate this requirement amongst all the RWAs in Delhi and also monitor the implementation of the same periodically, under advice to the Commission.