Centre proposes measures to reduce Delhi air pollution

November 17, 2021

The Central government has proposed several measures in an affidavit before supreme court, to reduce Delhi air pollution.

Key Points

  • Central government expressed its unwillingness to ask its employees to work from home.
  • It has advised its employees in Delhi-NCR region to go for carpooling in order to reduce the number of vehicles used by them.
  • It maintains that, number of vehicles used by Central government is a minuscule fraction of the total vehicles that are used in Delhi. So, stopping their plying is not going to make much impact on improving the air quality of Delhi.

Directives by Commission for air quality management

  • The Centre also pointed outs directives issued by Commission for air quality management for Delhi-NCR. The directives include-
  1. Ban on entry of trucks in Delhi till November 21. Exception to be given for trucks carrying essential commodities.
  2. Closure of thermal plants.
  3. Ban on construction and demolition activities.
  4. Deployment of anti-smog guns and water sprinklers.

Background

Earlier on November 15, Supreme Court had directed Central government to call for an “emergency meeting” on November 16 with Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. It also asked to prepare an action plan for curbing air pollution in Delhi-NCR. The court asked the Centre regarding scientifically proven steps that are being taken to bring down pollution.

Air Quality in Delhi

According to System of Air Quality & Weather Forecasting & Research (SAFAR), Air Quality in Delhi continues to be in ‘very poor’ category for the fourth consecutive day on November 17.  Though, overall Air Quality Index (AQI) reduced from 396 to 379.

System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR)

SAFAR was introduced by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to measure air quality of metropolitan city. It measures overall pollution level and location-specific air quality in city. SAFAR was indigenously developed by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. It is operationalized by India Meteorological Department (IMD). The system comprises of giant true colour LED display to provide real-time air quality index on 24×7 basis.

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