DDMA meeting: Authorities discuss dust mitigation, staggered office timings

Dust removal and mitigation on a mission mode will be the focus area of the multiple agencies engaged with the implementation of anti-pollution measures in the city grappling with deteriorating air quality, authorities decided in a DDMA meeting on Thursday.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai, after the meeting, said that the timings of the government offices in Delhi may be changed to control pollution.

"There was discussion on changing the timings of both central and state government offices in Delhi to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads at the same time," he said in a statement.

Delhi government has requested the LG to discuss with the central government the possibility of conducting artificial rain in Delhi on a pilot basis, so that action can be taken in emergency situations, he said. The LG has assured of the same.

A special drive will be launched to stop diesel buses, from the neighbouring states, from entering the city, the minister said and warned of action against violations, he said.

The meeting of Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) chaired by Lt Governor VK Saxena was also attended by Chief Minister Atishi, Chief Secretary Dharmendra and other top officers.

The DDMA meeting also decided to deploy terminated civil defence volunteers for four months to implement various steps to tackle air pollution, officials at Raj Niwas said.

The need to mitigate internal sources of air pollution in the city was emphasised by the LG to which all agreed, officials said.

"Dust was identified as the biggest internal source of air pollution that could be addressed immediately, as even pollution arising out of vehicular emission and other sources required a long-term solution," said a Raj Niwas official.

The LG pointed out that after his direction for collecting dust-generating construction and demolition waste, dried-up silt and cleaning road dust in a mission mode, the MCD and DDA disposed of 15,000 metric tons (MT) and 8000 MT of dust respectively, during the last fortnight itself.

The chief minister and environment minister acknowledged that the drive has helped salvage the situation to a large extent and directed officials of PWD and the environment department to undertake similar exercises in a mission mode, officials at the LG office said.

Cleaning of roads by MRS trucks with simultaneous washing as well as installing rotating smog guns over high-rise buildings had also been started. About 300 MRS trucks, operating with rotating smog guns have been installed over 160 high-rise buildings in the city, officials said in the meeting.

Rai pointed out that the vehicles were entering the city, despite alternate routes being there vide the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways and enforcement was required to deter the same.

Strict enforcement to prevent open fires, garbage burning and compliance with pollution under check (PUC) also came up for discussion and the lack of manpower for such enforcement was highlighted, officials said.