NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Friday said that the city is prepared for battle against air pollution as CM Arvind Kejriwal announced a 15-point Winter Action Plan which would be implemented rigorously to protect Delhiites from pollution during the cold season.
Kejriwal said that in the past few years, due to the efforts of Delhiites, there has been a 30% reduction in air pollution levels. “We have reduced pollution by increasing green cover, shutting down thermal power plants, imposing fines for dust pollution, shifting industries to PNG, and providing 24-hour electricity,” Kejriwal said.
Under the Winter Action Plan, specific action plans have been formulated for 13 identified hotspots in Delhi. This year, over 5,000 acres of farmland in Delhi will receive free distribution of bio-decomposer. There will be strict monitoring of construction sites, wide use of anti-dust machines, and efforts to reduce vehicular pollution.
Additionally, there will be a ban on open waste burning. If pollution levels rise, the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) will be implemented rigorously, and collaborative efforts with neighboring states will continue. “Within 8 years of the government in city, the levels of pollution have decreased with the contributions of 2 crore people of Delhi, various government agencies, and the Central government.
I would refrain from saying that today’s situation is an ideal one but this shows that the path we are marching ahead on is the right one. In comparison to 2014, today the level of pollution has declined by 30%. It’s been observed that pollution has increased in other states with time along with developmental activities, but that’s not the case with Delhi.”
The chief minister cited official data by the Central government on pollution to make his point. “In 2014, the level of PM2.5 was 149, today it’s 103. The PM10 used to be 324 in 2014, today it’s been reduced to 223. In 2016, there used to be only 109 days with ‘Good Air’ in terms of pollution levels, now this has increased to 163. In 2016, there were 26 days with ‘Severe Air,’ this number has been reduced to 6 days only,” he said.
Emphasizing the steps taken by the Delhi government to deal with pollution, Kejriwal said, “For 15 years, new buses weren’t added to DTC’s fleet, due to which people switched to private transport. But in the last 2-3 years, we purchased new buses on a large scale. To make it more eco-friendly, we purchased electric buses. In the history of Delhi, today we have the most number of such buses at 7,135. Among these, 800 buses are electric.”
“In 2020, the Delhi government launched an electric vehicle policy for all vehicles, private as well as public. This policy has been appreciated worldwide. Today, the largest number of electric vehicles are being purchased in Delhi which is the highest in the world. Approximately, 17% of newly purchased vehicles are e-vehicles in the national capital,” he added.
It is a ‘copy-paste’ job, says BJP The BJP slammed the Kejriwal government over the action plan, calling it a “copy-paste” job. Virendra Sachdeva, chief of the party’s Delhi unit, said, “Kejriwal’s winter action plan is just a show. He did not do anything about pollution control. The Winter Action Plan presented today is a copy-paste of the plan they presented last year.” He said before the AAP assumed power in Punjab, it held the northern state responsible for the pollution in Delhi. “But now, Kejriwal is mum on Punjab,” he added.
