The Delhi government led by Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal has released the Summer Action Plan under which 12 focus points have been set to reduce pollution in summer.
Delhi’s Environment Minister Shri Gopal Rai held a meeting with officials of 30 departments at the Delhi Secretariat on the planning of Delhi’s Summer Action Plan. He said that there has been a lot of improvement in the pollution level of Delhi, which is the result of the hard work of the people of Delhi. To bring further improvement in this, the Delhi Government will effectively implement the Summer Action Plan along with the people of Delhi. Under this, strict steps will be taken to prevent dust pollution, open burning and industrial pollution. Other steps, including increasing green cover, development of lakes and dialogue with neighbouring states will also be taken.
Announcing the Summer Action Plan at a press conference, Delhi’s Environment Minister Shri Gopal Rai said there has been a lot of improvement in Delhi’s air pollution. There has been an increase in the number of good, satisfactory and moderate category days, which was 159 in 2018, which has increased to 206 in 2023 in Delhi. The pollution level has come down by 30 percent in the last 8 years. In winters, Delhi government prepares its winter action plan, similarly, it has started preparing a summer action plan for summers as well.
Announcing the summer action plan, the Environment Minister said that some immediate steps will be taken under the summer action plan and some long-term measures will also be undertaken. An action plan has been prepared after meeting the officials of 30 government departments. These include Environment, DPCC, Development Department, Cantonment Board, CPWD, DDA, Delhi Police, Revenue, DSIIDC, Education, DMRC, Transport, Delhi Jal Board, MCD and NDMC and other departments.
Shri Gopal Rai said that under the summer action plan, mainly 12 focus points have been identified on which the government will work in the coming days. He said all the departments have been assigned different responsibilities on the following 12 focus points:
- Tree plantation:
● A meeting has been called at the Delhi Secretariat with all the greening agencies on June 18 regarding the tree plantation campaign.
Nodal agency: Forest Department
- Tree transplantation policy:
Emphasis is being laid on how to ensure that more of the trees that are being transplanted survive. Formation of a special team to monitor the increase in the survival rate of transplanted trees.
Nodal agency: Forest Department
- Dust pollution:
Anti-dust campaign will be run in Delhi from June 15, this campaign will run till June 30.
● 85 mechanical road sweeping (MRS) machines and 276 water sprinklers will be deployed to prevent dust pollution.
● 580 patrolling teams will monitor all over Delhi
● Hotspot action plan will be implemented in all 13 identified hotspots and air pollution sources will be redressed.
Agencies involved: PWD, MCD, DCB, NDMC, DDA, CPWD, IF&CD, DSIIDC, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Metro and Revenue Department have been appointed as nodal agencies.
- Open Burning:
● To prevent open burning of garbage, 573 patrolling teams of 1269 personnel will monitor.
● 235 teams of 525 personnel will patrol at night and 338 teams of 694 personnel will patrol during the day.
● Work on the basis of SOP to prevent incidents of fire at landfill sites.
Agencies involved: MCD, NDMC, DCB, Development Department, I&FC, Delhi Fire Service, DDA and Revenue Department have been appointed as nodal agencies for open burning.
- Industrial Pollution:
● 33 teams of DPCC and DSIIDC have been deployed to monitor illegal dumping of waste in industrial areas.
● A plan is being prepared to deal with industrial waste.
● It is being ensured that lifting of industrial waste from industrial areas and its proper disposal is regular.
Agencies involved: MCD, Revenue, DSIIDC and DPCC have been appointed as nodal agencies for industrial pollution.
- Development of City Forests:
● 7 City Forests will be improved with eco-friendly trails, cycle tracks, bird watching decks, canopy walks, sitting areas, open interpretation signage etc.
● 3 new City Forests are being proposed to be created.
Nodal agency: Forest Department
- Development of Lakes/Ponds/Water Bodies of Delhi:
● Reality check of the presence of 1367 lakes in Delhi will be done.
● Restoration of 73 water bodies will be done by land owning agencies.
Agencies involved: Wetland Authority (DPGS), Revenue Department, DDA, Forest Department, MCD
- Development of Parks (Green Parks):
● Financial assistance will be provided to 300 RWAs/NGOs for the development and maintenance of 1500 parks and gardens in Delhi.
Agencies involved: Delhi Parks and Gardens Society, MCD, DDA
- E-Waste Eco Park:
● E-waste Eco Park is being built in Delhi to prevent pollution caused by e-waste garbage. The work of its management and establishment will be expedited. Agencies involved: Environment Department and DSIIDC have been appointed as its nodal agencies.
- Eco Club Activity:
Eco clubs are running in 2 thousand schools and colleges of Delhi. The target has been set to run awareness campaigns in eco clubs. A core team of 10-20 eco-club teachers is also being formed from active eco-club schools/colleges.
Nodal agency: Environment Department
- Solid Waste Management:
● Monitoring the management and disposal of municipal solid waste under solid waste management.
● Bio mining at all three dumping sites.
- Dialogue with neighbouring states:
It has been observed in Delhi that factors of the surrounding states also play a major role in increasing pollution, due to which dialogue will be established with the neighbouring states, so that a joint action plan can be made to control pollution. For this, letters will be written to the neighbouring states on various subjects.
● Conversion of public transport to CNG
● Control of pollution from brick kilns
● Control of pollution from thermal power plants around Delhi
● Discouraging entry of non-scheduled trucks into Delhi
● Preparations to control stubble burning
