The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has drawn up an action plan to reduce air pollution in the city that needs to be implemented soon with stakeholders doing their part , as this is vital to the end result. The action plan has short, mid and long term implementation periods, but a single agency such as the KSPCB cannot do everything on its own. Others, who are contributing to pollution, should join hands with it and do their bit too and the collective effort could curb it in the long term. The KSPCB, as the nodal agency, should then coordinate with the other departments on a regular basis to check how the jobs assigned to them are being implemented.
Some requirements such as eliminating DG sets and promotion of non-motorised transport such as walking and cycling have, however, not been included in the action plan. Also, the deadline of December 2019 is not long enough for its implementation as it is only seven months away. Enforcement, which is lacking currently, should be given priority as without it no action plan can succeed.
Government agencies know where the pollution hotspots are in the city and also have enough data on it, but you only need some common sense to realise where they are. The “low cost device” has become a business as everyone is going in for it without understanding the basics. Whether it’s a research outfit or a single owner operating from a garage, all want to be in the “low cost device” business , taking advantage of the gullible government and the public. One should not make decisions based on only such data as, if we spent more time and money on reducing air pollution itself, we could get better results. It's important that experienced scientific and technical professionals work on it as well as their inputs could be very helpful in combating Bengaluru’s rising air pollution.
