This summer, Delhi to join hands with neighbours to fight bad air

NEW DELHI: Delhi government hopes to tackle pollution in the summer with a 16-point plan. The plan will focus on initiating dialogues with the neighbouring states on joint action that will tackle dust pollution, which is one of the major sources of summer pollution, and industrial pollution. Developing ponds and parks are also envisaged.

Environment minister Gopal Rai, who chaired a meeting with 30 government departments on Wednesday, directed the officials to submit their section's detailed plan to the environment department by April 20. Based on the suggestions received from the various departments, the government will announce a summer action plan to contain pollution.
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Rai said, "Immediate and long-term action programmes, which will be part of the summer action plan, will be put into effect to control Delhi's pollution. Specific tasks have been assigned to different departments to prepare an overall action plan."
The plan will have as its various elements dust pollution, industrial pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, solid waste management, tree plantation, tree transplantation policy, real-time apportionment study, open burning and development of city forest, real time apportionment study, urban farming, development of ponds, development of park, e-waste eco park, eco club activity and dialogue with neighbouring states.
The minister said, "It has been seen in Delhi that the surrounding states also play a key role in the rise in pollution. Dialogues will be started with the neighbouring states to formulate a joint action plan to control pollution."
Rai has appointed a nodal agency to coordinate with the other departments. For real time source apportionment study, Rai said work was being done in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur to determine the sources of pollution in the city. "India's first e-waste eco park is being built on zero-waste policy," he added.
Responding to Wednesday's developments, Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said, "This action plan is incomplete without measures for vehicular pollution. Motor vehicles are among the highest contributors to pollution in the city, emitting significant particulate and gaseous pollutants. It is necessary to reduce traffic intensity and on-road emissions."
Roychowdhury said one of the key summer problems was the exceeding of ozone standards. Experts explained that ground-level ozone was produced by the complex interaction between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted by vehicles, power plants, factories and other combustion sources. They undergo cyclic reactions in the presence of sunlight to generate ground-level ozone.