Delhi government urges Centre to regulate emissions from 1,900 brick kilns in NCR

NEW DELHI: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said the city government has urged the Centre to take time-bound action to ensure that 11 thermal power plants and around 1,900 brick kilns using outdated technology in NCR control their emissions.

There are 11 plants around Delhi – in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — which were supposed to retrofit their units with technology called flue-gas desulphurisation to reduce emissions by December 2019.

Addressing a press conference, the minister said Delhi has asked the Centre to take time-bound action to ensure these thermal power plants meet new emission norms.

At a meeting of representatives of NCR states with Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Rai also asked the Centre to take action against brick kilns using outdated technology in neighbouring states.

He said there are more than 1,500 such brick kilns in Uttar Pradesh, and over 150 each in Haryana and Rajasthan.

He also appealed to the Centre and states to implement a new technology developed by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute here to manage stubble.

The technology, called Pusa Decomposer, involves a liquid formulation prepared using Pusa decomposer capsules, fermenting it over 8-10 days and then spraying the mixture on crop residue to ensure speedy bio-decomposition of the stubble.

Capsules worth Rs 20 can effectively deal with 4-5 tonnes of raw straw per acre.

Rai said the Centre has been providing subsidy up to 80 per cent on farm machinery, but farmers still have to pay from their own pocket to use it.

“The Pusa decomposer tech is an economically viable option. We have estimated that only Rs 20 lakh is need to manage stubble in 800 hectares of agricultural land in Delhi,” he said.