Noise counts as an air pollutant: the Act that put the pollution boards in charge of the air

Background

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 extends to the whole of India and was passed to carry forward decisions taken at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm. It treats as an air pollutant any solid, liquid or gaseous substance present in the atmosphere in a concentration that is or tends to be injurious to human beings, other living creatures, plants, property or the environment, and a 1987 amendment brought noise inside that definition. The Act leaned on boards that already existed. The Central Board set up under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974, now the Central Pollution Control Board, exercises the powers of the Central Board under this Act as well. In the same way, a State Pollution Control Board set up under the Water Act counts as the State Board for air pollution under this Act, and only where the Water Act is not in force in a State, or no Board was constituted under it, does the State Government constitute a separate State Board for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution. The Central Board's main job under this Act is to better the country's air quality and to prevent, control or abate air pollution; in particular it can advise the Centre, plan a nation-wide programme, co-ordinate the State Boards, resolve disputes among them and organise training for the work. A State Government, after consulting its State Board, can declare any area in the State an air pollution control area, and can forbid the use of any fuel other than an approved fuel there from a date at least three months after the notification. Approved fuels and approved appliances are themselves approved by the State Board. The machinery matters this week: Delhi's 24-hour average Air Quality Index was 379, in the very poor band, on Central Pollution Control Board data, with areas such as ITO, Dwarka, Rohini and Alipur in the severe band.