Air pollution: Delhi Environment Minister urges Centre to convene emergency meeting of NCR states

New Delhi: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai wrote a letter to Union MinisterBupender Yadav urging him to convene an emergency meeting of environment ministers from the NCR (National Capital Region) states to discuss the solutions to curb air pollution in the national capital.

Rai claimed that about 31 per cent of Delhi's pollution stems from internal sources, while the remaining 69 per cent is attributed to external sources.

He said that despite the Delhi government's ongoing efforts through the Winter Action Plan to curb pollution, it won't yield the desired results unless the contributing factors from neighbouring states are also addressed promptly.

Noting that the pollution levels tend to surge during the winter months in Delhi, Rai said that the Delhi government has devised a comprehensive winter action plan centred on 15 key objectives, which they are diligently implementing, to counter this.

"Thanks to the measures already taken by the Delhi government, pollution levels within the city have shown a consistent decline, decreasing by 30 per cent over the past eight years," he said.

In his letter to the Union Environment Minister, Rai outlined several key steps, including the conversion of public transport from NCR states to CNG or electric, curbing stubble burning incidents in the region, transitioning industrial units to cleaner fuels, and adopting cleaner technology for brick kilns.

Rai suggested ensuring 24-hour electricity for housing societies to reduce reliance on diesel generators and diverting non-destined vehicles on Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways from their starting points.