Bhupendra Yadav not paying heed to my pleas for a meet to curb Delhi’s air pollution: Gopal Rai
Bhupendra Yadav not paying heed to my pleas for a meet to curb Delhi’s air pollution: Gopal Rai
New Delhi, April 5 (Delhi Crown): Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday (April 5) wrote his third successive letter in a span of four months to Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, urging him to call a joint meeting of those states areas of which form the National Capital Region (NCR) to sort out Delhi’s air pollution woes.
But it seems Yadav has been turning a blind eye to Rai’s proposal.
In his letter, Rai pointed out that steps taken by the Kejriwal government over the past few years had resulted in lessening the air pollution levels to a great extent, and that almost three-fourths of the sources of air-pollution lie in the states whose areas are a part of NCR.
Parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh form the NCR, and both these states have been ruled by the BJP for over five years.
“Between 2018 and 2021 the number of days having satisfactory and moderate levels of air pollution have increased, while those having bad pollution levels have gone down,” Rai mentioned in his letter addressed to Yadav.
He added – “A report by the Centre for Science and Environment shows that while 31% of air pollution sources are within Delhi, the rest 69% lie in the states that form the NCR. It’s clear from this report that the states forming parts of NCR will have to come together to make a joint effort. I wrote similar letters to you in November and December last year, urging you to call a meeting of such states.”
“Once again I humbly request you to call a meeting of environment ministers of the states, areas of which form the NCR, enabling us to make a joint action plan to curb air pollution level in Delhi,” added Rai in his letter.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government is preparing a “Summer Action Plan” in a bid to curb air pollution levels in the national capital. The action plan include steps like checking dust, open construction, making greens on pavements by road sides, and growing more trees, etc.
