Delhi bans new manufacturing unit in industrial areas to stem pollution

In an effort to keep control of pollution levels in the national capital, the Delhi government has banned new manufacturing units in industrial areas. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the new rule will benefit various sectors such as IT, media, call centers, HR services and TV production houses etc.

He said professionals like lawyers, architects and chartered accountants who had moved to the suburbs due to high property costs, will now be able to get offices in Delhi. “Till now, they all came under the office category in Delhi’s master plan and could open establishments only in the commercial areas,” Kejriwal explained. “Now, they will be able to come in the industrial area at a cheaper rate.” The chief minister said industries polluting Delhi will end and the industrial areas will become clean and green. He hopes that the face of industrial areas in Delhi will change and pollution-causing manufacturing industries like steel and plastic will be gradually replaced by the service and hi-tech industries. The CM thanked Hardeep Singh Puri for approving their proposal to amend the master plan to change the definition of industrial activity.

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An assessment by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), in 2019, pointed out that the city is surrounded by critically polluted industrial clusters that do not meet air, water or soil pollution parameters. Joshua Apte, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Texas Austin – US, had explained that air quality is a function of pollution and dilution, how much is emitted and how much it spreads out. Apte said some of the biggest emitters are Delhi’s more than 10 million vehicles, with many running on two-stroke engines that produce more air pollution than four-stroke motors. And depending on the time of the year, vehicles can contribute 40 to 80 per cent of the region’s total pollution. Moreover, dust from the city’s construction boom also contributes to smog with brick kilns, that burn solid fuels, another factor.