Environment Ministry Reviews Mitigation Measures to combat air pollution in Delhi-NCR

Environment Ministry Reviews Mitigation Measures to combat air pollution in Delhi-NCR

A meeting held in the Environment Ministry reviewed the mitigation measures to combat air pollution in Delhi-NCR.  The meeting decided that all agencies will be held accountable for implementation of the decisions taken.  Following detailed discussions, the following decisions were taken:

1. Government agencies like PWD, DDA, DMRC and NHAI have been strictly directed to ensure that dust mitigation steps are taken at their construction sites.  Default by any of these organisations will result in action against the defaulting officers of these organisations.
2. Dumping of Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste in DDA/Public lands should be stopped immediately.   DDA, MCD should prepare a list of approved dumping sites and ensure that dumping takes place only at such sites.
3. All the four municipal corporations have prepared detailed action plans carrying out paving/greening on a large scale.  It was decided that this activity should be completed by October 2018.
4. Process of procurement of mechanized road sweeping machines has been initiated by the MCDs.  It was decided that procurement and deployment of all machines should be completed by September, 2018.  It was also decided that all the roads where mechanized sweeping is possible should be brought under the same.
5. MCD had formulated plans for procurement of water tankers.  It was decided that all roads where mechanized sweeping is not possible, should be covered with water sprinklers.
6. It was decided that the daily deployment of mechanized sweepers and water sprinklers will be published on the respective website of the Municipal Corporations with the help of GPS data, so that the public is informed of the deployment details.
7. The tendering process for remediation of landfill sites at Ghazipur and Bhalswa has been initiated and work will start in the next four months.

The review meeting was chaired by Secretary, Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri C.K Mishra yesterday.  The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary, Delhi government, all Commissioners of Municipal Corporation in Delhi and other senior officers of Delhi Government.  Appreciating the work done by Delhi Government till now, the meeting also noted that a lot of work still remains to be done to ensure better AQI levels in Delhi.

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