‘Delhi govt to prepare action plan to deal with winter pollution problems’

Environment Minister Gopal Rai chaired a joint meeting with all the 28 concerned departments, at the Delhi Secretariat regarding the Winter Action Plan

New Delhi: Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said that based on 15 focus points, a full-fledged winter action plan will be prepared by the Delhi government to deal with the problems of winter pollution.

The minister chaired a joint meeting with all the 28 concerned departments, at the Delhi Secretariat regarding the Winter Action Plan. All the departments have been assigned different responsibilities on the prescribed 15 focus points, according to which the winter action plan will be prepared, the minister said.

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He said that all the departments have been directed to submit their reports to the Environment Department by September 25. He said that the Environment Department has been directed to submit a detailed action plan to the government under the winter action plan.

He said that the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will announce the winter action plan on October 1. The Kejriwal government has intensified its preparations to deal with the problem of pollution during the winter season. The massive success of the Delhi government’s efforts to curb pollution; in the last nine years, PM 10 levels fell by 42 per cent, PM 2.5 by 46 per cent. The good, satisfactory, and moderate category days increased from 109 to 163 days between 2016 and 2022.

In addition, between 2016 and 2022, the number of days falling into the severe category days declined as well; from 26 in 2016, it was only 6 in 2022. This demonstrates that the ongoing measures being implemented within Delhi are having an impact on lowering the city’s pollution levels, he said.