In the pipeline are Delhi's own pollution warning system and various directives from the environment department.
The Delhi government has drawn a new charter of combat mechanism to handle steadily rising pollution levels in the city. Moving on from last year's measures that included sprinkling of water, anti-smog guns among others, most of which failed to prove effective, it has now decided upon new ones. In the pipeline are Delhi's own pollution warning system and various directives from the environment department.
In November 2017, when the national capital witnessed a deadly week long spell of smog, the Aam Aadmi Party government used water spraying and anti-smog gun as steps to help Delhi breathe. Around 75,000 litre of water was sprayed for about an hour on November 15 from Vikas Minar, ITO to bring down pollution. However, the PM 2.5-ultrafine particles that can penetrate inside the lungs, continued to increase. The data recorded by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) after the aerial sprinkling also did not show any decrease in pollutants. In December, the government tested an anti-smog gun after pollution levels spiked in Anand Vihar. However, just like aerial sprinkling, the machine tested on trial basis, remained ineffective.
This year, the government has plans in place to have its own pollution warning system which will alert at least two days in advance, giving time to authorities to spring into action. The system is expected to get running by the end of this month. It will collate data from 36 monitoring stations run by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Safar, and will include real-time aerosol information from Nasa satellites besides updates by the meteorological department, to give a forecast. according to officials, the main advantage of the system will be to enable Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) come into action in advance.
Additionally, Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain directed various agencies on Wednesday to ensure that norms for dust control are maintained at construction sites. No construction material should be kept in the open and regular sprinkling of water at all construction sites must be done. All high-rise building should have the arrangement of water sprinkling for dust suppression. Strict action against the violators of norms should immediately be initiated by the respective authority," he said. Hussain has also written to the Centre, seeking its intervention to prevent stubble burning in neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
SELF SUFFICIENT
- The government has plans in place to have its own pollution warning system which will alert at least two days in advance, giving time to authorities to spring into action.
- The system is expected to get running by the end of this month. It will collate data from 36 monitoring stations run by Central Pollution Control Board
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