Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday opined that “piecemeal” efforts to bring down levels of air pollution in Delhi are not a solution. He said while inaugurating a two-week “Clean Air Campaign” in the national Capital, that like the odd-even scheme, this campaign too is not a permanent solution to the problem of air pollution. He calls for cumulative effort of all departments to deal with the menace of air pollution.
“Pollution is not a subject of the environment department, it just handles the symptoms. Until there is participation of all departments, particularly those contributing to air pollution, piecemeal efforts will take us nowhere,” said Kejriwal .
The campaign mandates to send 70 teams to monitor causes of pollution in the national Capital and initiate remedial measures, including penal action against serious polluters on the spot.
The campaign will be conducted between February 10 and 23.
“When we implemented the odd-even road rationing scheme, pollution levels came down. This campaign is also not a permanent measure,” he elaborated.
Calling the campaign, a joint initiative of the BJP-led Centre and the Delhi Government, an effort beyond politics, Kejriwal said the move sent a big political message. “This campaign is an effort beyond politics and it should have happened long back for the welfare of people,” he said.
“We are considering procuring international machines that accurately tells us what was causing high pollution on a particular day, be it dust or fire,” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal pitched for a “round-the-year study” on pollution levels in Delhi and said pollution was dynamic in nature and reasons contributing to it changed everyday.