The Badarpur power plant will shut by mid-October by which time 20 real-time pollution monitoring stations will also be functional, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal was apprised by the authorities concerned here on Thursday.
Air pollution
Mr. Baijal chaired a meeting to review the status of air pollution control measures in the Capital at Raj Niwas, where Environment and Forest Minister Imran Hussain, the Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary (Urban Development), Commissioner (Transport) and Sunita Narain, the Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment, were present.
Mr. Baijal was told that for dust control, 12 mechanical road sweepers were in operation in the jurisdiction of the South Municipal Corporation of Delhi; two have been procured by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) which will be operational in a week, while the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has four mechanical road sweepers operational and another four mechanical road sweepers will be procured by it in two weeks.
Ensure accountability
Regarding putting up uniform sign boards displaying the details of concerned agency and the officials responsible for maintenance of the particular road stretches, the L-G directed that the exercise should be completed by the third week of October to ensure accountability of all concerned and measures being taken to combat air pollution.
“It was also informed that auditing of Pollution Under Control [PUC] certificates is going on. Steps are being taken to link PUC certificate with insurance by Transport Department. The L-G directed that last mile connectivity to the colonies should be provided. DMRC is establishing a subsidiary company to deal with last mile connectivity,” said the statement. An anti-fire crackers campaign has already been initiated by Environment and Education Department, the L-G was told, following which he directed that all efforts should be made to create awareness among school students.