New Delhi, April 1 Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta tabled the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on ‘Performance Audit on Prevention and Mitigation of Vehicular Air Pollution in Delhi’ in the Assembly on Tuesday.
The CAG report on air pollution, the latest to be tabled in the Assembly, unravels various gaps and loopholes in the previous government’s functioning regarding its policies.
The report has found many shortcomings and discrepancies in the AAP government’s policies towards checking vehicular emissions and pollution control certification.
“This report has pointed out various shortcomings in the effort made by the government in controlling vehicular emission such as lack of information regarding the type and number of vehicles plying on Delhi roads and assessment of their emission load, shortage of public transport buses and public transport for last mile connectivity so as to reduce use of personal vehicles, not implementing of less polluting alternatives viz. ‘Monorail and Light Rail Transit’ and ‘Electronic Trolley Buses’, etc,” the report said.
It also said that there were significant discrepancies in the Pollution Under Control (PUC) certification system, and a large number of vehicle users were not getting their vehicles checked as per norms.
Holding the previous government accountable for glaring lapses in PUC certification, it said: “The system for issuing ‘fitness’ certificates to commercial vehicles was dysfunctional and prone to misuse. Audit also observed that the government did not take any action to implement the ‘Delhi Management and Parking Places Rules’ aimed at avoiding stagnation of vehicles and traffic congestion due to haphazardly parked vehicles.”
The report also highlights lapses in air pollution monitoring.
“Requisite data of concentration of pollutants in the air for a minimum of 16 hours in a day were not available with the DPCC (Delhi Pollution Control Committee) for proper air quality monitoring,” the CAG report read.
“GNCTD (Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi) was not in a position to identify emissions from different types of vehicles that are generating significant concentrations of pollutants for framing source-wise strategies,” it further pointed out.
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