Excerpts from an interview of Dr. Virinder Sharma, Member (Technical), Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), Government of India by Dr. Arvind Kumar, Editor, Focus Global Reporter
Dr. Virinder Sharma is presently Full-time Member (Technical) in the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), Government of India. Leading on the Air quality related policy, strategies and implementation in the Transport, Industries, Thermal Power Plants and R&D sectors.
Dr Sharma is an International Development Specialist with more than 30 years of professional, technical and management experience in the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)/Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK Government and the Government of India/State Government.
Expertise includes policy designing, strategic planning, implementing programs and results delivery outcomes on Air Quality Management, Urban Development, Climate Change, Environment, Energy, Health and Biodiversity.
EDITOR: As one of the three full-time technical members at CAQM, what does a typical day look like for you? Beyond the formal mandate, what aspects of your role do you find most challenging, and which give you the greatest sense of accomplishment?
DR. SHARMA: As Member-Technical, my day is largely driven by review of targeted actions by the concerned agencies of Delhi and NCR. The first layer of work is monitoring daily air quality trends, compliance reports, satellite data on fire counts, and weather/meteorological conditions, air quality parameter trends and forecasts. This is followed by review meetings with other Ministries, technical divisions, state pollution boards, urban local bodies, transport, R&D agencies and field enforcement teams. A significant part of the day also goes into evaluating techno-economic feasibility of solutions proposed by industry, transport, TPPs startups, and research and development institutions, especially when the Commission is framing a new statutory direction.
The most challenging part of the role is also the most important one: ensuring uniform technical implementation across NCR, despite differing institutional capacities, and infrastructure gaps. What works in Gurugram does not automatically scale up in Bharatpur or Hapur. Building technical convergence and monitoring implementation across different departments, air quality sectors/sub-sectors is a constant task.
What gives the greatest sense of accomplishment is measurable change on ground, whether it is the significant reduction in stubble burning incidents, increase in biomass co-firing utilization by Thermal power plants, adoption of cleaner fuel standards in Delhi NCR and EV transition, the shift of 95 percent NCR industries to approved fuels, or the fact that Delhi saw 31 percent more good-to-moderate AQI days in 2024 compared to 2018. All actions take time to witness the change and every time data reflects improvement, on what has worked and what has not worked and why, the challenging task of air quality management feels worthwhile.
EDITOR: How does CAQM incorporate cross-sectoral linkages between air quality, water resources, and energy systems in its policy framework? Can you share specific examples of how addressing air pollution has created co-benefits for water conservation or clean energy transition in NCR?
DR. SHARMA: Air pollution mitigation cannot work in silos as it is multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral across geographies and airsheds. Emissions are an outcome of how we manage energy, agricultural waste, dust, vehicles, land, etc. The 2022 Policy to Curb Air Pollution in NCR and the updated sectoral action plans embed this integrated approach.
A clear example is the biomass pellet mandate for brick kilns and thermal power plants. By shifting from coal to paddy straw-based pellets, the Commission is not only reducing PM, SO₂, and NOx emissions, but also diverting agricultural residue that would otherwise be burnt or left to decompose, releasing methane. The same intervention reduces groundwater stress because in-situ straw mulching improves soil moisture retention and reduces irrigation demand in wheat sowing.
Another linkage is visible in the DG set retrofit direction. By mandating dual-fuel and emission control devices, the transition is tied to improved energy efficiency standards, which directly reduce diesel consumption per kWh and therefore lower both CO₂ and PM emissions.
Similarly, the common industrial boiler clusters being planned in multiple NCR industrial areas are designed not only to cut point-source emissions by centralizing combustion, but also bolstering clean energy transition.
BS VI fuel standards adopted by various transport segments and restrictions on older BS standards has helped to transition vehicle fleets to cleaner fuels and reduction in vehicular emissions.
In all these cases, the engineering and technical design supported by innovative technologies like APCDs in industry pollution control, ANPR for identifying older BS standards in vehicles, is guided by cross-sectoral co-benefits: one intervention with multiple environmental dividends.
EDITOR: CAQM has achieved remarkable success in reducing stubble burning incidents over 80% reduction in Punjab from 71,304 fires in 2021 to 10,909 in 2024. What innovative technical solutions, beyond traditional crop residue management machines, is CAQM exploring to achieve complete elimination by 2025-26? How are you addressing the challenge of optimum availability of CRM machinery and farmer awareness that continues to hinder ground-level implementation?
DR. SHARMA: The first phase of stubble reduction was driven by conventional CRM machines and coordinated enforcement. The next phase demands deeper innovation in three streams: biomass utilisation, supply-chain to value chain enterprises, and farmer-side behavioural change.
CAQM is now prioritizing decentralised ex-situ utilisation models that reduce dependence on long-haul logistics. This includes village-level pelletizers, mobile briquetting units, and compact bio-ethanol plants designed for under-50 km feedstock radiuses. Torrefaction-based pellets, which have higher calorific value and water resistance, are being technically fast-tracked so they can fully replace coal in Thermal Power plants, brick kilns and cluster boilers.
On the in-situ side, CAQM is working with IARI and state agriculture universities to scale second-generation bio-decomposers that require less irrigation and work in lower temperature bands, as it is a major constraint in November.
The challenge is no longer proof of concept, but optimum allocation and scaling up utilization of machines. We are now moving toward GPS-tagging of machinery, real-time rental platforms, and block-wise harvest staggering to avoid peak congestion windows where machine availability drops sharply.
Farmer awareness is being shifted from “stop burning” messaging to “crop residue as an income stream”. When straw becomes a tradable raw material instead of a disposal burden, elimination becomes automatic, not enforced.
EDITOR: CAQM has mandated biomass pellet co-firing in thermal power plants and brick kilns, with targets reaching 50% by November 2028. From a technical perspective, what are the primary engineering challenges in scaling up torrefied pellet production and ensuring consistent quality standards? How is CAQM facilitating technology transfer and capacity building for paddy straw-based biomass pellet manufacturing across Punjab, Haryana, and UP?
DR. SHARMA: The technical bottleneck is not in combustion, but in the front-end engineering of pellet quality, durability, and calorific consistency. Torrefied pellets need uniform bulk density, low moisture absorption, and ash characteristics to avoid slagging in kilns and corrosion in power plant boilers. The variability of raw paddy straw based on harvest timing, humidity, and storage creates quality instability unless processing lines are standardized.
CAQM is addressing this through a dual strategy. First, we are working to formalise graded quality standards for agro-residue pellets, similar to coal grading, so procurement contracts can be performance-linked. Second, the Commission is facilitating technology transfer workshops between pellet manufacturers and TPP/Industry engineering teams so boiler retrofit needs are understood at source.
To expand production capacity, CAQM has recommended state-led cluster models where land is pre-allocated in industrial estates for pelletisation units, with capital subsidy linked to minimum offtake agreements from power plants and brick kilns. The goal is to move from “produce and hope to sell” to assured demand backed mechanism.
Capacity building is being done through state nodal agencies, where engineers and aggregators are trained not just in pellet production, but in material science and storage logistics.
EDITOR: Delhi is implementing AI-driven platforms and integrated monitoring systems for air quality management. What role does CAQM play in standardizing real-time emission monitoring systems across NCR industries, especially given that 2,010 out of 2,361 major industrial units have not connected their OCEMS to the CPCB server as of October 2025? How can emerging technologies like satellite monitoring, IoT sensors, and machine learning improve CAQM’s predictive capabilities for pollution episodes?
DR. SHARMA: CAQM’s focus is not just on installing OCEMS but on interoperable, auditable data. We have mandated API-based connectivity to ensure plant-level emissions data is transmitted in real time to CPCB/CAQM servers. The 2,000+ major units that have not linked will also be linked to the CPCB server, data of which is being supervised by OCEMS Cell in CAQM.
The Commission is finalising a uniform API-based data protocol so emissions, meteorology, compliance status, and satellite layers can be viewed in a single decision-support system through the proposed Integrated Command and Control Centre. The Air Quality Early Warning System (AQEWS) already integrates forecasts from IITM, IMD, and SAFAR, the next upgrade includes machine learning models that use historical enforcement data to predict sector-wise contribution probabilities during different meteorological regimes.
Satellite monitoring of industrial plumes, IoT-based low-cost sensors in peri-urban and construction areas, and mobile-source telemetry portals from vehicular fleet aggregators will all feed into this common grid. The long-term goal is to shift from reactive enforcement to predictive prevention, if road dust, biomass burning, or NOx spikes are foreseeable hours in advance, orders can be enforced in a time-bound manner.
EDITOR: CAQM’s Direction No. 94 (June 2025) mandates exclusive CNG/EV induction for aggregators and e-commerce fleets, with complete transition targets by 2026-2030. What technical infrastructure gaps; charging networks, battery swapping stations, grid capacity pose the greatest barriers? How is CAQM coordinating with power distribution companies to prevent increased coal-based electricity generation from offsetting the emission benefits of EV adoption?
DR. SHARMA: The biggest bottleneck is not vehicle supply but clean energy delivery infrastructure. EV fleet transition requires three parallel capabilities: fast charging stations at logistics hubs, battery swapping at high-frequency demand nodes, and distribution grid upgrades to handle clustered load without diesel genset fallback.
Many NCR cities still have 11 kV feeders operating near peak capacity during commercial hours. If EV charging demand is dumped on the same feeder, coal-based peaking plants ramp up and the emission benefit is lost. CAQM is therefore working with discoms to ring-fence EV charging load using renewable-backed open access and dedicated feeders where possible.
For CNG fleets, the issue is station density and pressure stability. Direction 94 on Vehicle aggregators, Delivery service providers and e-commerce entities is being monitored through Delhi and NCR policy guidelines, working with aggregators and ensuring portal for monitoring of cleaner vehicle induction in CNG and EV categories. This is matched with GAIL and city gas distributors’ plans for 300+ new CNG stations and booster compressors by 2027.
The Commission has made it clear that EV adoption cannot become a backdoor for higher coal generation. Accordingly, a technical framework is being designed where discoms must maintain a minimum renewable-to-load ratio for sanctioned EV charging capacity, so emission benefits are real, not statistical.
EDITOR: CAQM coordinates with over 40 government departments, pollution control boards, and district administrations across five states/UT. From your technical member perspective, what are the most significant inter-agency coordination challenges you face in ensuring uniform implementation of CAQM directions?
DR. SHARMA: The technical challenge is not lack of intent, it is asymmetry in institutional readiness as we coordinate air quality management across 150 different departments and agencies. A single CAQM direction lands in five different administrative regions in Delhi NCR. Different departments run on differently: agriculture is seasonal, transport is annual-budgeted, municipal works are project-cycle based. Data systems are different, so compliance tracking becomes a difficult task.
CAQM addresses this through uniform standards, joint technical annexures, sectoral working groups, and shared compliance dashboards that combine OCEMS, satellite alerts, ANPR data, challan logs and field reports. Flying squads and the Enforcement Task Force provide a single-window inspection mechanism.
EDITOR: CAQM recently issued an RFP seeking innovative technological solutions across nine pollution sources, with funding support for up to three years. What specific research gaps or technological innovations is CAQM most eager to support? How do you envision citizen science, community-based monitoring, and academic-industry partnerships contributing to actionable air quality solutions?
DR. SHARMA: We are looking at solutions that close the last-mile gap between lab success and field deployment under our statutory R&D Sub-committee. Four priority research gaps stand out:
- Low-cost PM2.5/gas sensors with reliable field calibration
- Dust suppression solutions for low-humidity, low-evaporation conditions
- Scalable torrefaction chemistry for uniform pellets
- Industrial fugitive emissions control in cluster layouts
Citizen science will play a role, but only if devices meet minimum calibration standards. The RFP therefore encourages academia–industry–startup consortiums, where research depth, engineering scalability, and commercial deployment come together.
EDITOR: Studies show that short-term exposure to PM₁₀ and SO₂ in Delhi significantly increases respiratory disease hospital visits, with PM₂.₅ levels consistently exceeding WHO standards. Does CAQM maintain a comprehensive public health impact assessment framework that quantifies mortality and morbidity reductions achieved through specific interventions? How are health co-benefits being integrated into cost-benefit analyses for pollution control measures?
DR. SHARMA: A health-linked cost-benefit framework is now embedded in CAQM’s decision architecture. While the Commission is not a medical body, it relies on epidemiological baselines from ICMR, CPCB, and WHO to translate PM₂.₅ reduction into avoided mortality, hospital admissions, etc. People perceive air pollution as dust or smoke and are not aware of the air quality monitoring technical PM parameters and thus vulnerable sections have to be made fully aware of the health impacts of different stages and their exposures to air pollution.
For example, the reduction of 24 percent “Poor to Severe+” AQI days since 2018 directly feeds into a model estimating respiratory OPD load reduction in NCR tertiary hospitals. Likewise, the EV fleet transition is evaluated not just on tailpipe emissions prevented, but secondary PM₂.₅ avoided from coal displacement.
These values are built into cost-benefit assessments for decisions like fuel switching, EV timelines, or biomass incentives. The idea is to treat clean air as a preventive health investment, not a regulatory cost.
EDITOR: The Centre doubled environmental compensation penalties for stubble burning in November 2024, yet the Supreme Court has criticized implementation gaps and delays in appointing adjudicating officers. What technical and administrative mechanisms is CAQM deploying to ensure effective collection and utilization of environmental compensation? How is the Commission using remote sensing, geo-tagging, and digital payment systems to strengthen the enforcement-penalty nexus?
DR. SHARMA: The Commission is now moving away from manual FIR-based compensation to a geo-tagged, automated penalty matrix. Satellite fire counts are being cross-verified with block-level land records and burnt area cropland monitoring so that compensation is imposed even if violators are not physically caught in the act in addition to red entries in land records.
Adjudicating officers are being deployed in all districts with digital penalty dockets linked to direct bank transfer systems. The idea is to eliminate the enforcement lag penalty should follow within 72 hours of detection, not after harvest season ends.
EDITOR: Looking ahead to 2030, what would successful air quality management in NCR look like from a technical standpoint? Beyond achieving AQI targets, what systemic transformations in urban planning, industrial ecology, agricultural practices, energy systems, and citizen behaviour does CAQM envision?
DR. SHARMA: Success in 2030 is not just AQI below 100, it is sectoral transformation. Industries running on clean fuels, vehicle logistics fleets fully electrified or bio-CNG based, brick kilns operating on biomass, crop residue treated as raw material instead of waste, and dust control systems embedded into every infrastructure project.
Air pollution will stop being an issue only when peoples’ behaviour, not just technology, governance and systemic change. Civil society will be critical in three roles:
- Localized monitoring and reporting: validating whether directions translate into ground reality.
- Behaviour change accelerators: from school-level campaigns on waste burning to farmer producer organisations trading straw.
- Co-owners of data: the more transparent the data, the stronger the accountability loop.
Air quality improvement will not come from regulatory enforcement alone, but a combination of incentives/disincentives that can build collective ownership for cleaner behavior for improvement in the various activities being practiced in the airshed.
EDITOR: How can civil society organizations contribute to this transformational agenda through awareness, community mobilization, and integrated resource management approaches?
DR. SHARMA: Civil society will be the bridge between policy and practice. There are three high-impact roles Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) can play: data & accountability, market & behaviour change, and local resource integration.
First, on data and accountability: calibrated community sensor networks run by trusted CSOs expand spatial coverage and flag hotspots. But calibration and QA are essential. CAQM welcomes partnerships where NGOs to manage air quality sensors under jointly agreed protocols and feed validated data into the Commission’s compliance dashboard. CSOs can also run independent audits of local implementation (CRM machine utilisation, pellet hub offtake, OCEMS connectivity) and publish simple scorecards that drive corrective action.
Second, on market and behavioural change: CSOs are effective at converting “don’t burn” into “make income from residue.” They can incubate farmer producer organisations, aggregate straw for village-level pelletisers or CBG units, negotiate offtake contracts with brick clusters, and run demand-generation campaigns for biomass products. At the household level, targeted campaigns on clean cooking, waste segregation, and anti-burning norms accelerate social norm shifts. Training modules, demo plots for bio-decomposer use, and machine-rental co-ops make technology adoption easier.
Third, on integrated resource management: CSOs can pilot circular-economy models — linking municipal organic waste to composting, pairing pellet-byproducts with local industry, and helping municipalities implement dust-suppression and greening plans. They can manage locally-earmarked penalty funds transparently by running community escrow committees that disburse subsidies for CRM equipment and pellet hubs.
Finally, CSOs are essential in convening multi-stakeholder platforms bringing farmers, industries, local bodies, vehicle aggregators and utilities together to co-design context-specific solutions. When civil society moves to partnership, interventions become socially acceptable, economically viable, and technically durable and that’s when clean air stops being an enforcement task and becomes a community outcome.
** “Conflict of Interest: The views expressed in the interview are not official and are fully independent in nature.”
