'Delay in emission norm compliance will affect public health'

Any delay in the implementation of stricter emission standards for thermal power plants will put public health at "greater risk", Greenpeace India said today while noting that air pollution claims over a million lives in India every year.

Terming air pollution as a "national" problem which costs the economy an estimated three per cent of the GDP, the green body said that in 2015 India has witnessed more number of deaths per day than China.

It demanded timely and quick implementation of the new emission standards.

"It has been 16 months since the notification (for stricter emission norms) came into force but there is no progress towards controlling SO2 and NOx emission from thermal power plants.
 

"There is no information available on how many power plants have installed or commissioned the installation of the technology to comply with the notification," said Sunil Dahiya, Campaigner, Climate and Energy, Greenpeace India.

Air pollution has become a national problem claiming 1.2 million lives every year in India, it said.

The statement of the green body came in the backdrop of a media report which quoted Power Minister Piyush Goyal stating that thermal plants in the country will miss a government deadline to slash their emissions.

The report said that the environment ministry had introduced stricter standards for thermal power plants two years ago and had given thermal power plants until December this year to cut particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions and reduce their water use.

"The pollution emission in the form of SO2, NOx and particulate matter impacts the population across India and need to be controlled as soon as possible to safeguard the rights of the citizens to breathe clean and healthier air," Dahiya said.

Greenpeace India demanded timely and quick implementation of the new emission standards.

It also demanded transparent information to be made public on the status of implementation of the emission standards - number of power plants complying to the notification, number of power plants which have commissioned retrofication to comply to the notification or are in any other stages of development and others.

"We have right to breathe clean air and implementation of the emission standards of thermal power plants as soon as we can is one step towards that direction," Dahiya added.