Advanced Green War Room launched in Delhi ahead of winter pollution

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday launched an advanced Green War Room to monitor air pollution 24X7 in the national capital and ensure effective implementation of winter action plan to curb it.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday launched an advanced green war room at the Delhi secretariat, through which the government will monitor the Capital’s pollution levels and the implemention of the winter action plan.

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai launched the war room that will operate out f the Delhi Secretariat. Rai said the war room will also be linked with Green Delhi App . (PTI Photo)

The government formed a 12-member team comprising experts, scientists and engineers to oversee different sectoral issues in the war room, the minister said.

“Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced the winter action plan on September 30. The new Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) was enforced in Delhi from October 1. We have been closely monitoring the air quality and stubble situation in and around Delhi. To enable 24x7 monitoring of all our efforts, we are starting the advanced green war oom with 12 members,” Rai said, adding all complaints received on the Green Delhi app will be monitored from the war room.

Rai said since the launch of the Green Delhi app in October 2020, 54,156 complaints have been received on the app to date. Of these, around 90% of the complaints have been resolved so far.

“A majority of the complaints are pertaining to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) or fall under their jurisdiction. A total of 32,573 complaints have been filed on the app under MCD’s jurisdiction, around 9,118 complaints have been received against the Public Works Department (PWD) and 3,333 complaints against the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). I urge the people of Delhi to ensure their cooperation and participation in this winter action plan. With climate change and the developments in society, it is only possible to fight against pollution with the support of the people,” Rai said.

The green war room has several screens to showcase different air pollution-related information. While one screen will display real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) and pollution data, another screen will show the number of pending complaints on the Green Delhi app. A third screen will, meanwhile, depict farm fire data for each day, officials said. Rai said Delhi also plans to monitor its 13 pollution hot spots from the green war room, with efforts on the ground already showing there has been a reduction in pollution levels there, the minister said.

“When pollution was on the rise in Delhi, we had identified 13 pollution hot spots. As per the report on those hot spots, tallied between 2018-2021, in Jahangirpuri PM 10 levels have fallen by 20%, in Narela 8%, Ashok Vihar 22%, Vivek Vihar 15%, Punjabi Bagh 21%, Dwarka 21%, Mundka 32%, Rohini 26%, Wazirpur 24%, Okhla 15%, Bawana 16%, Anand Vihar 25%, and in RK Puram by 22%. We have seen improvement in PM 2.5 levels too. In Jahangirpuri, PM 2.5 levels have fallen by 13%, in Narela 12%, Ashok Vihar 14%, Vivek Vihar 1%, Punjabi Bagh 6%, Dwarka 8%, Mundka 16%, Rohini 13%, Wazirpur 20%, Okhla 9%, Bawana 9%, Anand Vihar 16%, and in RK Puram by 13%,” Rai said.