New Delhi: Lauding the efforts of the Kejriwal government in curbing air pollution in the national capital, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said that air capital in the city has reduced by 15 per cent over the years due to the efforts of the state government.
The minister's statement came a day after Delhi was ranked the world's most polluted capital city for the third year on the trot by a Swiss group that measures air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5.
"The Delhi government has consistently shown its administrative will to reduce air pollution in the city, due to which it has reduced by 15 per cent," a statement quoted the minister as saying.
"Of the top 10 polluted cities, nine are in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi used to be polluted, but the condition is improving slowly... The reason for this reduction is the consistent and diligent efforts of the Arvind Kejriwal government," he said.
He said the AAP government brought important policies on fuel change, tree transplantation and electric vehicles, emphasised on green zones and installed smog guns in worse-affected areas. The minister also highlighted steps taken for to curb anti-dust and vehicle pollution.
Delhi is the first in the country to shut down its thermal power plants, Rai said.
The city government, in collaboration with the PUSA Institute, made bio-decomposers to eliminate stubble burning, worked on a war-footing to fight dust pollution, and launched Green Delhi application to help identify the problem areas in the city, he said.
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"It is now up to the central government to do its bit," the minister said.
He said the Centre's intention is clear, as it has done nothing to shut down polluting thermal power plants and brick kilns operating in neighbouring states.
"Governments must work together to come up with a viable, workable solution. The Delhi government had submitted a petition to the Commission for Air Quality Management to address stubble burning, but now with the commission having lapsed, the issue remains unaddressed," Rai said.
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The AAP leaders attacked the government for not shutting down the power plants in Delhi NCR region, adding that the state government made repeated appeals to the centre. He also said that the quality commission established by the Central government has been shut.
The World Air Quality report by Swiss technology company IQAir, released on Tuesday, said 22 of the top 30 most polluted cities globally are in India.
The average concentration of PM 2.5 in Delhi in 2020 was 84.1 g/m3, the highest among the capital cities of 92 countries mentioned in the report.
Delhi was followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia. Within South Asia, the Indian cities of Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Bisrakh, Jalalpur, Bhiwadi and Noida are the top five most polluted regional cities.
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With PTI inputs
