NGT asks states to set up air quality monitoring centre in every district

The National Green Tribunal has ordered that at least one air quality monitoring station should set up in each district in three months to monitor the quality of air.

The NGT principal bench headed by Adarsh Kumar Goel said, "With a view to ensure the availability of air quality data, at least one air quality monitoring station must be set up at every district headquarter at the earliest.

"Where no such monitoring station exists, atleast a manual monitoring station. This should not exceed three months in any case. This will be the responsibility of the State Pollution Control Board. The air quality data may be placed on the website of the District administration and also at prominent locations in the towns, in the form of AQI, PM2.5 and PM10," the bench added.

The Tribunal passed this order after hearing a plea seeking a ban on crackers in NCR due to the rising air pollution and fear of increasing Covid-19 cases.

"The fact remains that there are 740 Districts in the country and above 4000 cities It is absolutely necessary that atleast at every District Headquarter in all the 740 Districts, there should be an air quality monitoring station," the order said.

"Any victim of pollution, apart from other remedies, can approach the District Magistrate for compensation, by showing evidence of individual damage and the person responsible for the damage," the order said.

The Bench took note of a report filed by Central Pollution Control Board which maintained that overall, this year's Diwali had witnessed higher background levels of pollutants.