Sharp fall in pollution levels, Sisodia hails Delhiites

Citing the latest data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday claimed that there is a sharp fall in pollution levels in the national Capital in 2017. CPCB data has proved that people of the national Capital are serious on the issue of air pollution and are determined to curb it, he added.

“Less consumption of diesel and considerable fall in the purchase and registration of new vehicles were the reasons behind sharp fall in pollution levels in the city”, Sisodia said.

“The drop seen in 2017 wouldn’t have been possible if Delhiites hadn’t stepped forward to fight pollution. Trends from last year are encouraging,” he said, praising the people for their determination to curb pollution.

“Diesel Consumption decreased by 16 per cent in Delhi and 11 per cent fall in purchase and registration of new vehicles recorded,” said Sisodia, adding, “ Green cover in Delhi has increases in the last two years by 600 hectares.”

As per the latest report of CPCB, the average AQI of PM 2.5 and PM 10 in 2017 was 101 and 260 micro grames per cubic metres, which is less in the past five years.

“Reduced percentage in the consumption of Diesel is not small, it shows that people are switching to cleaner fuels,” said the Deputy Chief Minister, adding, “Delhi has also seen a significant drop of 11 per cent in the registration of new vehicles from 8.8 lakh in 2015-16 to 7.8 lakh in 2016-17.”

“This signals the fact that people are moving towards public transport, and to shared mobility concepts such as car-pooling,” said Siodia adding, “Keep it up Delhi.”

Talking about the implementation of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of Environment Pollution (Prevention &Control) Authority (EPCA), Sisodia said that the Delhi Government thanks the courts for several progressive judgments on banning the use of over 10-year-old Diesel vehicles and registration new diesel vehicles over 2000CC.

 “Ban on the use of highly polluting fuels like furnace oil and pet coke in Industries and levy of Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) on trucks entering Delhi are some major judgments of the courts which helped the Government on resolving pollution issues,” the Deputy CM added.

Quoting the pollution levels of neighbouring states, Sisodia said Delhi is the only city which has implemented the GRAP plan of EPCA with strong action and determination.

“Air quality in Delhi has improved, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of NCR cities like Ghaziabad and Gurugram is now higher than that of Delhi. As per this report, Ghaziabad (with an AQI of 258) and Gurugram (with AQI of 247) are the top two polluting cities in India. Delhi’s AQI is 228,” he said quoting the CPCB reports.

“This was the first year that the Delhi Government implemented the GRAP as required by EPCA, even as many other cities in India which are bound by GRAP haven’t followed it,” Sisodia said.

“Through GRAP, during extreme periods of pollution, we took several actions like —Total ban on diesel generators, ban on construction activities, ban on entry of trucks and complete ban on the use of pet coke and furnace oil in the industrial areas of Delhi,” he claimed. “At the same time, we are taking rapid steps to provide to provide all industries in Delhi with PNG (Piped Natural Gas) as alternative,” he added.

WAY FORWARD

•  Minimise the use of private transport, and switch to public transport and car-pooling as much as possible.
•  Be an environment marshall yourself - Please be vigilant to cases of open burning of garbage or uncovered building material at construction sites in your neighbourhood. If you see any such instance, click a photo and Whatsapp it to the following Control room number of DPCC: 9717593574/501.