Coordinated action resulted in decrease in pollution since 2015: Delhi budget

Noting that Delhi has the best air quality monitoring network in India, the Outcome Budget of the government said coordinated action has resulted in a substantial reduction in emission of particulate matters in the past four years.

The Outcome Budget was tabled by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the Assembly on Monday.

The budget document said that 26 monitoring stations and 12 hotspots in Delhi have been identified to specifically monitor parameter-wise pollutants and with constant monitoring and enforcement, there has been a steady decrease in PM 10 (fine particulate matters in the air with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers) and PM 2.5 (fine particulate matters in the air with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers) concentrations.

It also noted that Delhi has recorded the best air quality monitoring network in India.

The report also said Delhi's green cover has increased by 0.37 per cent.

Delhi's green cover has increased from around 20.2 per cent in 2015 to 20.6 per cent in 2017.

"The increase has been attributed to plantation and conservation activities undertaken by the government," the report said.

Out of the target of planting 32.5 lakh trees in 2018-19, five lakh saplings were planted in a single day in September, the report said.

Twenty programmes were included in the environment department in 2018-19 and seven schemes were added by the forest department, it said.