Noting that air pollution has reached crisis level in Northern India, government think-tank Niti Aayog has recommended a slew of measures like imposing higher taxes on petrol in and around the more polluted cities to encourage commuters to share cars and take public transportation. The Aayog, in its 'Three Year Action Agenda to be implemented till 2019-20' and released by Finance Minister, also suggested making public transportation faster and more comfortable to discourage the use of private vehicles. It has identified coal power plants, brick kilns, vehicles, cooking and heating fires which burn biomass, rubbish burning and burning of crop residue and dust from construction as the "major" source of air pollution. It noted that air pollution has reached crisis levels in Northern India and though it is much publicised in Delhi, it is also widespread in many other cities and as many as ten of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India. It recommended actions like finding alternatives to crop residue burning, reducing pollution from cooking fires and installing flu gas de-sulpherizers on all coal power plants in or close to densely populated areas except those less than 5MW capacity and those older than 25 years by 2020. It also suggested switching to cleaner technologies to reduce pollution from brick kilns considerably within three years.
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Links:
[1] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/reports-documents/india-three-year-action-agenda-2017-18-2019-20
[2] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/publisher/niti-aayog
[3] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/economy
[4] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/agriculture
[5] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/industry
[6] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/urban-development
[7] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/air-pollution
[8] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/vehicular-pollution
[9] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/india
[10] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/transport
[11] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/energy
[12] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/science-and-technology
[13] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/governance
[14] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/environment
[15] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/forests
[16] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/health
[17] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/education
[18] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/water-resources
