Stopping coal usage in the NCR along with a clampdown on usage of generator sets would be the key priority areas for the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority for next winter, EPCA member Sunita Narain said at a conclave on air pollution held in the capital on Thursday.

She said that while the switch to BS VI would take place next year, it was unlikely to bring an immediate impact on the pollution levels as it would take almost another decade to replace the fleet of vehicles.

“We saw a considerable improvement in the air quality when the shift from BS III to BS IV occurred as there was a sharp drop in the sulphur content from 350 parts per million (ppm) to 50 parts per million. Now the next shift is not that steep with the sulphur content only dropping to 10 ppm when we move to BS VI. The impact from this would take some time and it could take almost another decade to replace the entire fleet of vehicles to BS VI,” said Narain.

Narain, who is also the director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) was speaking at the conclave, ‘Controlling Air Pollution – What Next?’, which had been organised by the environmental NGO to analyse the roadmap ahead for tackling pollution in Delhi and other states.

“If we focus on the areas where further improvement could take place, stopping coal usage in NCR was important. Another big challenge was stopping generator sets in NCR, which continued to be used. We found this problem during this winter and a number of sectors and apartments were operating solely on generator sets,” said Narain.