UP, Haryana has been asked to be ready to shut thermal plants that do not meet 2015 standards (File)
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh must be ready to shut down some thermal power plants if air quality worsens in the coming days, a top anti-pollution body has said.
The Environment Pollution Control Authority or EPCA today said the two states must prepare to shut down thermal power plants that do not meet standards laid down in 2015 if air quality falls drastically in the days ahead.
EPCA chief Bhure Lal in separate letters to the Haryana and UP governments asked them to prepare for closing some thermal power plants during the peak winter period.
Mr Lal mentioned five power plants in Haryana and three in UP and their status of compliance with the standards made mandatory in 2015.
"I had in this letter explained that we may have to direct the closure of thermal power plants, which do not meet the 2015 standards as air quality deteriorates in the coming days," he said.
"I am now writing to ask you to review the preparedness of this measure and to inform EPCA of this review and the steps that will be taken to ensure compliance with the necessary shut-down during the peak winter period," he said.
Mr Lal said additional measures will be needed as air quality is likely to worsen.
"Please treat this as urgent as we are expecting a further deterioration in air quality in the coming days. IMD (India Meteorological Department) has predicted that the ventilation index fund winds will see reduction and temperatures will also fall. These conditions will exacerbate the impact of local pollution and stubble burning and therefore, additional measures will be required," Mr Lal said in the letter.
The National Green Tribunal on Monday also rejected a petition to allow brick kilns running on "zig zag" technology in the National Capital Region or NCR, saying their operation will have a "disastrous effect" on air quality.
The NGT directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to form a committee of five experts to suggest ways and means, if any, by which sustenance of brick kilns' activities may be viable.
In "zig zag" kilns, bricks are arranged to allow hot air to travel in a zig zag path, which results in higher mixing of air and fuel for more combustion.
Other brick kilns in the NCR are already banned by the EPCA.