Bengaluru: Amid growing pollution concerns in Bengaluru and other cities, a high-level committee has approved the State Action Plan for Clean Air in Karnataka, aimed at reducing emissions across multiple sectors. The initiative is part of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and consolidates existing measures to curb PM10 emissions while strengthening enforcement across industries, transportation, agriculture, construction, and waste management.
Key Measures Under the Plan are:
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Industrial and Transport Emission Control: Karnataka will monitor 17 categories of highly polluting industries, requiring them to adopt stringent air quality monitoring and publicly share environmental data. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is pressing major industries to install continuous air quality monitoring stations.
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Regulating Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste: New rules mandate vertical coverage of construction sites and the establishment of C&D processing plants to reduce dust pollution. The plan also promotes the use of re-processed bricks from waste materials.
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Cleaner Energy Use: To minimize wood and coal burning, the initiative pushes for greater LPG adoption and retrofitting older power generators to comply with 2022 emission standards.
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Solid Waste and E-Waste Management: The plan encourages environmentally friendly solutions such as composting, bio-methanation, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), and waste-to-energy projects for efficient waste disposal.
With 28,716 industries in Karnataka, including 2,652 red-category and 8,710 orange-category units (kspcb.karnataka.gov.in/