Govt revises air quality norms; uniform standards for all areas

In a major move to check air pollution, the government today revised its norms, putting in place uniform standards for residential and industrial areas.

The minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh announced the newly notified Revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards-2009 which provides a legal framework for control of air pollution and protection of public health.

"We have removed the distinction between industrial areas and residential areas. Now standards will be uniform irrespective of whether it is classified as industrial or residential area," he told reporters.

There has been lower standards for air quality in industrial area as compared to residential areas so far, Ramesh said. The new guidelines, which came after a gap of 15 years, have been prepared after considering those of the European Union. The norms of World Health Organisation has been considered.

The revised guidelines have added five more hazardous chemicals in the list of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for monitoring. They are Ozone, Arsenic, Nickel, Benzene and Benzo(a)Pyrene (BaP).