Centre to constitute 4-member expert committee to tackle ozone pollution

The proposal, made in an affidavit to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on December 16, said the ministry has finalised the terms of reference (ToR) for the panel

New Delhi

Pollution in Delhi, under a thick smog blanket. (Representative photo)

The Union environment ministry has proposed to constitute a four-member expert panel to work on ozone (O3) pollution to assess ways to mitigate its ill-effects and also assess its long and short-term health impact.

The proposal, made in an affidavit to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on December 16, said the ministry has finalised the terms of reference (ToR) for the panel, in consultation with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The panel, once formed, will prepare a report on the issue within two months, it said.

“That, in compliance with the aforesaid directions, the answering respondent, in consultation with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), has prepared the proposed ToR for the expert committee along with the suggested list of experts/institutions,” said the report.

The proposed experts include Dr Mukesh Sharma from IIT Kanpur, CSIR-NEERI’s Dr KV George, Dilip Ganguly from llT Delhi and IMD’s Dr Vijay Kumar Soni.

In August 2024, the NGT took cognisance of a news report highlighting high ozone levels in the country and this August, directed the central ministry to form an expert panel and finalise terms of reference.

The report said the panel will study CPCB’s latest report on ozone dated December 20, which has the latest data on current concentration and its precursors. The committee will suggest the scope of the study and assess the tentative cost before submitting the report.

On April 19, the ministry said it agreed with the findings of a CPCB report from December 2024, which had found high levels of ground-level ozone in the major cities in the country.

“Considering the importance of the subject matter and the need for a more comprehensive understanding, the MoEFCC recommends the constitution of an expert committee comprising of specialist of experts in this relevant field and submit report in a time-bound manner as mentioned in the CPCB report,” it had said in the submission, adding it also agreed with the recommendations of the CPCB, which included controlling precursors of ozone— namely nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide (CO)—at source.

In September 2024, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had shared a report on ground-level ozone to the tribunal, stating high levels were recorded for 56 days in Nehru Nagar in April and May 2023, for 45 days at Patparganj and 38 days at Aurobindo Marg—all traffic hot spots.

The highest concentration, 224.9 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3), was recorded at Nehru Nagar, located near Lajpat Nagar. This was followed by a peak average of 188.3µg/m3 at Patparganj and 175.4µg/m3 at RK Puram, according to DPCC’s report. All of these exceeded the national permissible standard of 100µg/m3 for an eight-hour period, it had said.