Summer pollution plan to be out by month-end

Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai, who held a high-level meeting with several state departments and agencies, said each department has been directed to prepare their own suggestions for the action plan, with another meeting to be held on April 11.

The Delhi government will soon launch an action plan to cut pollution levels in summer, which will act as a precursor to its winter counterpart, in a move that will spread authorities’ efforts to limit bad air across the year, environment minister Gopal Rai said on Monday.

Rai said the summer action plan will look at providing immediate, as well long-term solutions to quell bad air as the heat sets in. (Amal KS/HT file photo)

Rai, who held a high-level meeting with several state departments and agencies, said each department has been directed to prepare their own suggestions for the action plan, with another meeting to be held on April 11. Each department has been asked to focus on 14 parameters, including waste-burning in the open, road dust, landfills, industrial pollution and creation of green cover.

“Pollution levels rise across Delhi during the winter. A graph depicting the status of pollution levels through the year shows a decrease between January and March, and then an increase from September till December. To control the pollution levels from October, we formulated the winter action plan last year. Now that summers have arrived, we discussed the situation with various experts and departments and came to a conclusion that for our winter plan to be effective, a constructive summer action plan is also required,” said Rai.

Officials from the environment department, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), DDA, three corporations, fire department, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and revenue departments took part in the meeting on Monday.

Rai said the summer action plan will look at providing immediate, as well long-term solutions to quell bad air as the heat sets in, with the plan to be implemented between April and September each year.

“A follow-up meeting has been called on April 11, where we will prepare the final plan, based on suggestions by these departments,” Rai added.

The minister scheduled the Monday meeting after the Ghazipur landfill fire last week, with the government adding that solutions to such frequent fires will also be looked at.