Enthusiastic response to Delhi govt's anti-pollution campaign: Rai

On the third day of the campaign, Environment Minister Gopal Rai, who visited Delhi's Barakhamba Road-Tolstoy Road crossing said that soon the initiative will spread across all 70 constituencies of the state.

New Delhi: People are enthusiastically supporting the Delhi government's 'Red Light On, Gaadi Off' campaign which will be spread across the entire city in the coming week, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Friday.

On the third day of the campaign, Rai, who visited the Barakhamba Road-Tolstoy Road crossing here along with councillors, said, October 26 onwards the initiative will spread across all 70 constituencies by MLAs and on November 2, it will be implemented in 272 wards to reach as many people as possible.

Today councillors spread awareness at Barakhamba Road signal. We can see the enthusiasm in the people of Delhi. On October 26, MLAs will take the initiative to all 70 constituencies.

On November 2, this campaign will be implemented in 272 wards to reach and include as many people as possible, Rai told reporters here.

Elaborating on other measures being taken to control pollution, he said that Delhi Pollution Control Board is closely monitoring 13 pollution hotspots in Delhi and bio-decomposers have already been sprayed in 1000 acre of farmlands.

People are enthusiastic and are becoming a part of this campaign. It is spreading in the city at a good pace, Rai said.

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) government's campaign, which will go on till November 15, aims to spread awareness at 100 traffic signals in the capital. A total of 2,500 civil defence volunteers will be standing with placards, asking commuters to switch off engines of their vehicles, at these signals.

Rai, who launched the campaign on October 21 at ITO traffic signal where he was seen asking people to turn off their vehicles at the red light, had appealed to the public to actively participate in the fight against pollution.

He had said that Delhi's vehicular pollution can be reduced by 15-20 per cent if commuters turn off their vehicle engines while waiting at traffic signals.

He had appealed to the people of Delhi to act responsibly and stop burning fuel at traffic signals.

"The campaign is an attempt to reduce vehicular pollution. Delhi has around one crore registered vehicles. Altogether, vehicles burn fuel at traffic signals for around 15-20 minutes every day. This campaign aims to stop fuel-burning at signals.

"If the city's two crore population joins this campaign and does its bit, then we can reduce around 15-20 per cent pollution from vehicles. This campaign is voluntary. I appeal to the people of Delhi to make it a success," he had said.

The initiative is only an awareness drive and nobody will be issued a "challan", the minister had earlier said.

PTI