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Delhi pollution: Gopal Rai urges citizens to promote carpooling ahead of winters
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai launched a suggestions forum at greenwarroom@gmail.com for residents of Delhi to help cut down pollution.
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Thursday urged the citizens to keep their vehicles off at the red light in traffic and reduce the number of trips to prevent air pollution in the national capital. Every year, Delhi grapples with severe smog around October and November due to stubble burning, vehicular pollution and biomass burning, among other factors. Setting forth the agenda for Delhi’s winter action plan this year, Rai said that the contribution of citizens towards pollution control is as important as the steps taken by the government.
Earlier today, the environment minister held a meeting with resident welfare associations (RWA), NGOs and eco clubs in Delhi and took suggestions to improve the pollution control measures being taken by the Delhi government. Senior officials from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the environment department also took part in the meeting.
"We wanted to collect the feedback from these organisations on our efforts and seek their suggestions. Most of the people said that the 'Red light on Gaadi off' campaign should be continued," he told reporters.
Rai said that a lot of the suggestions were in favour of promoting carpooling in RWAs. “Residents can plan their work and reduce the number of vehicle trips accordingly, which will help bring down vehicular pollution,” he said. The minister highlighted that the Delhi government will also ensure that security guards and workers in night shift are provided heaters to prevent biomass burning.
The environment minister also launched a suggestions forum for the 'Green War Room' launched last year. Any person in Delhi can give suggestions to the government on pollution control measures on the email id -- greenwarroom@gmail.com, he said. The Green War Room monitors and coordinates anti-pollution efforts and updates the "Green Delhi" application to effectively address complaints related to pollution causing activities.
The Delhi government will also set up a team of officers to have talks with neighbouring states to jointly fight pollution.
“The government is working on a two-line plan of action -- one is to prevent causing pollution and the other to control pollution. For the first one, it is important to create awareness at grassroot levels among citizens,” he said.
“We are raising sensitivity among people so that they take it (the problem of pollution in Delhi) as their responsibility... as a collective duty,” he added.
Notably, the Delhi government has imposed a complete ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city till January 1, 2022. It has issued detailed guidelines for construction and demolition sites to control dust pollution.
Delhi's 'Winter Action Plan' for 2021 will be ready soon, officials told PTI. It will focus on 10 points, including stubble burning, pollution hotspots, working of smog tower and vehicular and dust pollution.
