 bill no  247 of  2018 the air (prevention and control of pollution) amendment bill, 2018 by dr prabhas kumar singh, mp a billfurther to amend the air (prevention and control of pollution) act, 1981be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of  india as follows:—short title and commencement14 of 19812 after section 28 of the air (prevention and control of pollution) act, 1981, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—insertion of new section 28a m o n i t o r i n g stations and action plan5"28a (1) the central government shall install and commission continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (hereinafter referred to as caaqm stations) by august 15, 2022 in all cities across the country having population of more than one lakh according to the latest census and in such industrial or mining towns as the respective state governments may, specify (2) the central government may, after consultation with the central board, by notification in the official gazette, declare technical specifications for caaqm stations10(3) it shall be the responsibility of every urban local body of cities or towns having caaqm station to prepare a region-specific graded response action plan (grap) based on air quality index (aqi) before such date as may be notified by the state government" statement of objects and reasonsaccording to the who, global ambient air quality database (2018), the rank of india is fourteenth amongst the world's twenty most polluted cities in terms of pm 25 concentrations also, environmental health in india is the worst amongst one hundred eighty nations according to the 2018 environmental performance index (epi)this rising pollution of air has been due to vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, construction activities, burning crop stubble and biomass, etcas air quality has declined, the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma, has increased among the citizens smog has become a daily phenomenon in several indian cities, causing sore throat, irritation in eyes, dizziness lakhs of indian succumb to premature deaths due to air pollution annually the deteriorated quality of air has resulted in a situation of undeclared public health emergencyprotecting citizens from the pangs of air pollution is both a moral and legal obligation of the government our constitution provides that the state shall endeavour to improve public health (article 47) and to protect and improve the environment (article 48a) in various cases, the supreme court has also observed that right to life under article 21 includes right to pollution free airhowever, to address the problem of air pullution, its real-time monitoring is the crucial first step continuous ambient air quality monitoring (caaqm) stations measure air pollutants and generate air quality index (aqi) aqi is useful for:—(i) general public to know air quality in a simplified way; (ii) policy makers and politicians to invoke quick actions; (iii) decision makers to know the trend of events and to chalk out correctivepollution control strategies; and(iv) government officials to study the impact of regulatory actionsat present, there are around one hundred thirty caaqm stations in india spread across seventy cities there is an urgent need to expand its coverage to all major cities and industrial and mining towns of indiasecond logical step should be to take specific actions for mitigation in response to the aqi, according to a region-specific graded response action plan (grap) grap may be given more teeth by introducing, in the rules, some form of green-tax on emissions from polluting entities like industries, power plants, etchence this billnew delhi;prabhas kumar singhnovember 20, 2018 financial memorandumclause 2 of the bill provides that the central government shall instal and commission continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations in all cities across the country having population of more than one lakh and in such industrial or mining towns as the respective state governments may specify the bill, therefore, if enacted would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve an annual recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty crore is also likely to be involved———— a billfurther to amend the air (prevention and control of pollution) act, 1981————(dr prabhas kumar singh, mp)mgipmrnd—2074ls(s3)—20-12-2018