Govt takes stock of air quality, seeks report on vehicle ban

Delhi chief secretary KK Sharma has directed all officials to work in a time-bound manner on the action plan meant to improve air quality in the Capital.

Delhi chief secretary KK Sharma has directed all officials to work in a time-bound manner on the action plan meant to improve air quality in the Capital.

Burning-of-fuel-garbage-and-wood-vehicular-emissions-due-to-traffic-congestion-and-dust-from-construction-activity-are-releasing-toxic-pollutants-into-the-air-that-Mumbaiites-inhale-every-day-HT-Photo-Sunil-Ghosh

In a meeting with all the secretaries and head of departments, Sharma asked sought a compliance report on the NGT (National Green Tribunal) order, which had imposed a ban on vehicles more than 15 years old in Delhi.

The officials told the chief secretary that the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and two other agencies were monitoring ambient air quality in Delhi at 20 stations. “Efforts have been made in the past to improve ambient air quality in Delhi by taking a number of measures.

However, an increase in population with a consecutive increase in vehicular population, construction activities in Delhi as well as NCR states, meteorological conditions, including horizontal/vertical wind direction/speed, have led to a situation that needs to be tackled at the earliest,” Sharma was told in the meeting.

The environment secretary told Sharma that the Delhi government had formulated an action plan for short-term and long-term measures required to tackle air pollution. Sharma has directed the transport department to come up with realistic data on private vehicles more than 15 years old.

“The transport department has been asked to launch a website for getting information on vehicles 15 years and above, from private owners and update the data base,” said a government spokesperson.

About 28 lakh vehicles are more than 15 years old on the basis of registration data.