Despite increasing levels of pollution, the country’s frontline pollution regulators are making do with woefully inadequate manpower and scant resources.
Inside the Haryana State Pollution Control Board’s regional office in Panipat, a board displays a list of regional officers over the last 20 years. There have been at least six regional officers in the past three years alone; the one with the shortest tenure served for only 14 days.
Kamaljeet Singh, the current regional officer, plays this down. “These are routine transfers,” he says. But the lack of stability of district chief tenures is only one of the many issues that plague the board.
The regional office of the Haryana SPCB is located in a shabby complex on the outskirts …
Omkar specializes in long-form narrative features and has reported from India, the UK, Germany and the Maldives. He writes across beats, from politics and crime to cinema and sports. His works have been published in Indian and international outlets including The Caravan, Mint Lounge, the BBC, Al Jazeera and The Huffington Post.
Senior Features Writer
omkar@mailtmc.com
Delhi