In a meeting with states and the center, Delhi requests a ban on fireworks for the whole NCR

The Delhi government requested the Union environment ministry to put a blanket ban on the movement of diesel buses across the National Capital Region at a joint meeting of states and the Centre on Friday.

Gopal Rai, the environment minister for Delhi, informed reporters that Bhupender Yadav, the union environment minister, met with the environment ministers for Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan. Delhi made various recommendations at this conference to reduce pollution across the whole NCR area, he added.

Rai had earlier asked the Centre to call a conference of all the NCR states so they could work together to create an action plan to reduce pollution during the winter. The Delhi government has made several initiatives to reduce air pollution during the winter, but Rai said in a letter to Yadav that these measures won’t be successful until Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh address the causes of pollution in the NCR area.

According to a survey by the independent environmental think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), sources in Delhi account for 31% of Delhi’s pollution, while sources in the NCR states account for 69% of it.

Rai emphasized that only CNG and electric cars should be allowed to operate, and that the states in the NCR should impose a total ban on firecrackers and stubble burning across the area.

In the NCR states, a large number of industrial units continue to use dirty fuels. They need to be quickly converted to natural gas pipelines. He said that in order to reduce pollution, the highly polluting brick kilns operating in the NCR states should be forced to use zig-zag technology.

Additionally, to lessen dependency on diesel generators, all housing societies in NCR states should have access to electricity. He stated that non-destined cars should be diverted from their place of origin onto the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways.

The Delhi government, meanwhile, organized a run on Friday to increase public awareness of the negative consequences of air pollution and to ask for help from the community in addressing the problem.

Rai said that representatives from a number of Delhi government agencies took part in the “Run Against Pollution” event and made a commitment to utilize public transportation, switch off their vehicles’ engines when the traffic light turns red, and preserve a clean environment.

The ‘Red Light On Gaadi Off’ program will be reinstituted by the government to reduce traffic pollution in the city. To prevent the use of firecrackers, the public awareness campaign “Patakhe Nahi Diye Jalao” will be reinstituted.

Delhi had last month issued a complete ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and usage of firecrackers inside the capital city, in keeping with the custom of the previous three years.

The municipal administration recently unveiled a 15-point action plan, with a focus on dust pollution, vehicle emissions, and open waste burning, to reduce air pollution in the capital throughout the winter.

Based on real-time air quality data gathered from 40 monitoring stations across the city, specific action plans have been created for each of Delhi’s 13 air pollution hotspots. Campaigns to reduce industrial emissions and dust pollution are already under progress.