Govt to make all roads dust-free to decrease pollution level

Concerned over increasing air pollution, Delhi government has decided to make all the main roads dust-free, congestion-free and clean, claiming that by this initiative, 25 per cent pollution can be decreased in the national capital.
PWD Minister Satyendra Jain said that in Delhi, 78 per cent of pollution is caused by vehicles, out of which, 38 per cent pollution is due to dust. PWD roads will be targeted under this projecet.
"When vehicles run on roads, dust remains in air... cleaning is done manually due to which dust remains there. Keeping this thing in mind, we have decided to first repair main roads, which come under the ambit of PWD, and broken footpaths," Jain said while addressing CII Delhi State Annual Session here.

According to the government, it will plant grass on dusty patches of land or put up ground cover. Besides, government will start mechanical cleaning of the main roads.
"By this initiative, we can remove dust from the roads due to which pollution level, we believe, can come down by up to 25 per cent...And if we succeed, it will be our big achievement," Jain said.
Meanwhile, Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia also said that to improve the air quality of the city, government will have to take hard and uncomfortable decisions.

"We have to take hard and uncomfortable decision, whatever it needs, to improve the air quality of city. We need to preserve clean air for our next generation," Sisodia said.

The Central government has already decided to put in place a unified air quality monitoring system to ensure that "authenticated" information is available to people. Green bodies have also asked the government to make their intent behind "re-evaluating" the pollution data public.
The Union Environment Ministry said the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and IMD - the three agencies monitoring air quality in Delhi - have also developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) of data "validation, analysis and dissemination" and gave comprehensive details as to how it would work.