Centre must have meeting with states every 15 days on pollution: Gopal Rai

A meeting of the environment ministers of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with the Centre must be held every 15 days to discuss matters pertaining to pollution and stubble burning, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Monday.

Such meetings will help in improving coordination between the states, the Delhi environment minister said is response to a question at a press conference.

"I want to request the Centre to have a meeting with states every 15 days on pollution. Then we can also put forth our point and we will be able to coordinate with others to do it (fight pollution).

"The battle to save the environment is bigger than the fight among states. As long as this is not understood, a solution cannot be reached," Rai said.

He claimed that on the issue of stubble burning, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sought time from Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, but no time has been given yet.

"Javadekar called a meeting of all neighbouring states in which I also participated. At that time, only I spoke to everyone (all state ministers)," the Delhi environment minister said.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had held a virtual meeting on the issue of air pollution on October 1.

The environment ministers of Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, secretaries of pollution control boards, along with representatives of Delhi Development Authority and New Delhi Municipal Council attended the meeting.