DFS sprinkles waters at hot spots, DPCC cracks down on polluting vehicles

New Delhi:

New Delhi:

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The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) on Saturday sprinkled water at 13 pollution hot spots as pollution levels continued to remain in the very poor category. On Saturday, Delhi’s air quality index was recorded at 312.

Atul Garg, director of DFS, said the measure was taken on Delhi government’s instructions. He said 13 hotspots have been shortlisted to start with—Rohini, Dwarka, Okhla Phase II, Punjabi Bagh, Anand Vihar, Vivek Vihar, Wazirpur, Jhangirpuri, RK Puram, Bawana, Narela, Mundka, and Mayapuri.

“On Saturday, 20 fire tenders were pressed into service. Water was sprinkled to bring down pollution levels in these areas. Further steps will be taken as ordered. If pollution levels go up more areas need to be showered,” Garg said.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has also started a crackdown against visibly polluting vehicles in the city. Over the last three days, 28 heavy commercial and 14 light commercial vehicle owners have been slapped with a fine of R1 lakh for plying polluting vehicles.

“The task of action against polluting vehicles is of the transport department but they can only fine R1500 and this is not a deterrent. Under the environment protection law, we are issuing fines up to R1 lakh to offenders. We have also impounded around 63 vehicles,” said Arun Mishra, member-secretary, DPCC.