Delhi agencies work on preparing action plans to limit pollution

Municipalities have identified vulnerable spots for open garbage burning, have prepared mechanical sweepers and identified routes for them to operate every night

With a day to go for the Delhi government’s deadline for agencies in the city to submit their individual pollution management action plans, the departments concerned said they were ‘prepared’ with their recommendations and reports to prevent a repeat of the Capital’s annual pollution problem, said officials on Sunday.

Every year starting October, Delhi witnesses an annual repeat of a steep spike in pollution levels, exacerbated by crop stubble burning in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana, the city’s local pollution sources and cracker bursting during Diwali (PTI)

Senior officials from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which is the nodal agency overlooking the pollution control measures taken by the three municipalities, said that municipalities have identified vulnerable spots for open garbage burning, have prepared mechanical sweepers and identified routes for them to operate every night.

“We have prepared a list of hot spots where garbage is burnt regularly, and have asked teams to keep a close watch on these spots. We will also ensure roads are regularly swept using machines. A timetable of water sprinkling for areas across the city depending on their pollution levels at a given point of time are also being prepared,” said a senior SDMC official.

East Delhi mayor Shyam Sundar Agarwal said the corporation is conducting regular meetings to come up with a plan on effectively controlling pollution in the region this year.

“We are trying to come up with an innovative and effective plan this time so that pollution levels can be kept to a minimum this winter,” he said.

State environment minister Gopal Rai in a meeting with all government agencies in the city last week, set a deadline for September 21 to submit individual action plans and recommendations based on which a consolidated winter action plan will be prepared by the government ahead of the pollution season, and released by September 30. This action plan promises to focus on ten key areas that are the largest contributors to winter pollution. These include, stubble burning, garbage burning, vehicular emissions, dust pollution etc.

Every year starting October, Delhi witnesses an annual repeat of a steep spike in pollution levels, exacerbated by crop stubble burning in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana, the city’s local pollution sources and cracker bursting during Diwali. As the temperatures become more frigid and winds change direction and slow down, the condition becomes worse, pushing the city’s air quality to hazardous levels.

Apart from the municipalities, other agencies that participated in the government’s meeting last week are working to ensure that any pollution source that gets triggered within their jurisdiction is controlled.

Delhi traffic police officials said that they are preparing a list of all congestion hot spots in the city, where snarls could possibly lead to higher vehicular emissions. Along with this, the department is also repairing all traffic signals that were identified as non-functional.

“We regularly update the list of congestion points across the city for our own use, so that we can manage traffic in these areas. For this season, we are evaluating the stretches afresh and will submit a list of roads where holdups tend to happen consistently, and the waiting time is over 20-25 minutes,” a senior traffic police officer said.

The official said that the department is also identifying all the major stretches where roads are unpaved or ridden with potholes, which lead to dust pollution and also slows traffic down.

“We will put forward our suggestion that the agencies concerned fix these roads ahead of the pollution season,” the official added.

Rai said that Delhi’s environment department has been appointed the nodal agency to oversee the city’s winter action plan and has been tasked with coordinating with various agencies and communicating with the governments of neighbouring states to keep a check on the impact of stubble burning in Delhi.

“Once the agencies present their plans we will have a larger winter action plan. However, the progress on these individual action plans will also be tracked simultaneously. We will be taking regular action-taken reports from all of these agencies once the winter season begins and pollution levels start rising,” a senior official of the environment department said.