Artificial rain, crackdown on aged vehicles under Delhi govt’s air action plan

The CM also announced that the government will deploy 1,000 water sprinklers and 140 mobile anti-smog guns to suppress dust in the city throughout the year barring the monsoon season

Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday chaired a high-level review meeting on Delhi’s Environment Action Plan 2025-26, where she announced a series of steps to improve the air quality, including mandatory rooftop sprinkler systems in all high-rise buildings and compulsory water sprinkling systems at construction sites to tackle dust pollution.

CM Rekha Gupta takes part in a cleanliness drive at Hanuman Temple, Connaught Place, on Tuesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The CM also announced that the government will deploy 1,000 water sprinklers and 140 mobile anti-smog guns to suppress dust in the city throughout the year barring the monsoon season.

The review meeting was held with environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa and senior officials from the environment department, Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) and other departments concerned. All departments were instructed to undertake strict and timebound measures to combat pollution, officials said.

Referring to vehicular pollution and end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) -- 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles – the CM said the government has already installed 495 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras at petrol stations. The cameras will also be put up at Delhi’s border points, she said.

“These cameras will identify restricted vehicles and notify authorities for enforcement. Also, this system will allow real-time tracking of ELVs plying within the city,” Gupta said after the meeting.

“If any ELV enters Delhi, the owner will receive an instant SMS alert. Signboards at border points will also display the count of such vehicles,” she added.

Besides, the government will undertake an audit of all Pollution Under Control (PUC) centres. Any PUC centre found issuing false certificates will face heavy fines, the CM said.

The government will also make mandatory registration of construction and demolition (C&D) sites over 500sqms in area through the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC)’s web portal.

“This will ensure compliance with air pollution control norms at large sites. Additionally, sites between 200–500sqms must also follow dust control guidelines, with MCD responsible for enforcement,” the CM said.

For green last-mile connectivity, Gupta said 2,300 e-rickshaws will be stationed at metro stations, out of which 700 will be operated by women.

The government also plans to pursue its ambitious plan of carrying out cloud seeding to induce rain, as it is preparing to conduct a trial soon. The CM said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will soon be signed with IIT-Kanpur for this purpose.

Sirsa said the plan also covers removal of the garbage mountains.

“A key feature of this environment action plan is the development of an AI-enabled beta version of the DPCC portal, which will enable direct online issuance of challans to polluting entities. Additionally, the vehicles carrying anti-smog guns and water/mist sprinklers will be GPS-enabled for effective real-time monitoring,” said the minister.

Experts welcomes the measures but emphasised that more action is needed to control emissions at their source. “These are strategies and actions largely to control dust, or enforcement measures. However, to improve Delhi’s air quality, we also need to control emission at sources and need a systemic and infrastructural-level plan to upscale solutions that are sustainable,” said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).