India's Top Court Wants Faster Implementation of Emission Norms
India’s top court has asked the government to speed up the implementation of emission norms for coal-fired plants.
(Bloomberg) -- India’s top court has asked the federal government to speed up the implementation of emission norms for coal-fired power plants after producers missed a deadline earlier this month.
The federal government is seeking to extend a deadline for thermal power plants to meet emissions norms to 2022, the environment ministry said in a submission to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Power producers have missed a Dec. 7 deadline that was set in 2015 to curb emissions of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and mercury from thermal power plants.
The government should try to implement the norms as soon as possible, Justice M. B. Lokur, who is heading the two-judge bench, told government lawyers. In response, government lawyers told the court they will try to work on an earlier deadline.
The plea to extend the deadline comes amid poor air quality in several parts of India, which is now home to some of the world’s most polluted cities, including the capital New Delhi. The deadly level of carcinogenic pollutants in New Delhi’s air was roughly 10 times the reading in Beijing last month, a city more globally infamous for its air pollution. Limiting emissions from coal-fired power plants could help lower pollution.
The delay increases the risk of pollution increasing by 50 percent in the next 10 years if the Indian power sector takes longer than 2020 to meet emission standards, according to research and advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment.
“The plan has to be a staggered one and not where everyone ends up meeting standards together in the last year,” Chandra Bhushan, CSE’s deputy director general, said. “The power industry can easily meet these norms by 2020 and giving 5 years is not justified.”
--With assistance from Rajesh Kumar Singh
To contact the reporters on this story: Upmanyu Trivedi in New Delhi at utrivedi2@bloomberg.net, Anindya Upadhyay in New Delhi at aupadhyay22@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Alpana Sarma, Unni Krishnan
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