MPs discuss measures to combat rising air pollution

Cutting across party lines, several members of the Parliament gathered at Damdama in Gurugram on Saturday and Sunday to discuss various measures to check air pollution across the country

Cutting across party lines, several members of the Parliament gathered at Damdama in Gurugram on Saturday and Sunday to discuss various measures to check air pollution across the country.

Noida, India- January 07, 2023: A view of skyscraper engulfed in dense smog amid rising air pollution levels, in Noida, India, on Saturday, January 07, 2023. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The parliamentarians, who participated in a two-day workshop to curb air pollution also released a compendium on clean air on Sunday that aims to focus on aligning the issue of air quality with public health at large, installing infrastructure in urban and rural areas to curb air pollution and boosting collaboration between different agencies, private groups and government to meet the challenge of rising pollution.

The workshop was organised by the Parliamentarians’ Group for Clean Air (PGCA) and facilitated by Swaniti Foundation. PGCA in a statement on Sunday said that it plans to take more initiatives and actions to combat air pollution.

Speaking about the initiative, Gaurav Gogoi, Member of Parliament (MP) from the Lok Sabha and convener, PGCA, said they were encouraged to see parliamentarians coming together for the clean air workshop. “The alarming levels of air pollution have been a growing concern for our country and it’s time we address it collectively. We hope to see more initiatives and actions taken to combat air pollution for a healthy future for our citizens,” he said in a statement.

Taking note of the poor air quality in various parts of the country and its impact on human health, a compendium on air pollution was also released and a charter of demands was also deliberated upon by the participating MPs on the second day of the workshop.

PGCA said that the compendium has 14 monitoring groups and gives actionable indicators on how the MPs can check the status of the problem and the progress of solutions as outlined in the various policies of the government.

The monitoring groups include monitoring air quality, road dust and construction activities, open waste burning, industrial air pollution control, green cover plan, public transport and electric vehicles, crop residue burning, clean energy, mining, public health, training and capacity building and revaluation of existing programmes.