Addressing the nodal officers of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) teams in New Delhi on Thursday, Union Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar said that around 95 per cent of the pollution in the city, is due to local factors like dust, construction and biomass burning and the share of stubble burning is only around 4 per cent as on date.
He said that the teams will visit Delhi and NCR towns – Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut in Uttar Pradesh; Gurugram, Faridabad, Ballabgarh, Jhajjar, Panipat, Sonepat in Haryana; and Bhiwadi, Alwar, Bharatpur in Rajasthan. These teams will specifically focus on hotspot areas where the problem is aggravated.
He further said that the feedback on polluting activities will be shared with concerned agencies through an automated system, for quick action. Details will also be shared with State Governments. This will help in taking timely actions and monitoring at appropriate levels by the concerned agencies.
“A Central Control Room at CPCB Head Quarters has been made functional for keeping track of pollution levels on hour to hour basis and overall coordination with State agencies. In addition, district wise nodal officers have been appointed for better management and coordination with teams,” said Javadekar.
“Air quality in winter season is a major environmental concern in Delhi and NCR region. Various efforts are being taken since past five years for air quality management in the region. Although gradual year on year improvement in air quality has been observed, a lot needs to be done,” Javadekar added.
