How Delhi is fighting against air pollution with four key measures taken by the Kejriwal government

New Delhi: The Delhi government under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been fighting against the air pollution of the capital along with the citizens of Delhi. To combat the air pollution of Delhi, government came up with the campaign which was known as a war against pollution or “Yudh Pradushan Ke Viruddh”. The Delhi government has also taken several steps to bring down vehicular pollution. The Delhi government has planted 31,00,00 saplings all over Delhi through organising Van Mahotsav. The Delhi government is also working on developing four new forest areas.

The Kejriwal government has been very serious regarding the issue of air pollution. Keeping in mind the Covid pandemic the Delhi government worked very hard last year so that the citizens of Delhi do not face double trouble due to Covid and air pollution.

Red Light On, Gaadi Off campaign to bring down vehicular pollution

To tackle pollution due to vehicular emissions, the Kejriwal government launched the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ initiative under the ‘Yuddh, Pradushan Ke Viruddh’ campaign of the Delhi government. The initiative which run in two phases saw massive support from the people of Delhi. More than 2500 Civil Defence Volunteers (CDVs) urged people to switch their vehicles off across 100 traffic signals in Delhi.

Kejriwal government launched 7-point action plan to combat air pollution

In October 2020, the Kejriwal government announced a 7-point action plan, or “Yuddh Pradushan Ke Virudh” to reduce pollution levels in Delhi. Various measures to combat pollution, such as the launching of the Green Delhi App, the creation of a war room to monitor steps, processing liquid solution for farm fields to prevent stubble burning, implementing hotspot-specific action plans to contain pollution, and subsidy on the adoption of EVs have also been announced under the campaign. Under the campaign, separate plans have been prepared for 13 pollution hotspots in the city.

To say no to stubble burning Kejriwal government introduced first of its kind bio-decomposer technique

This year, the Kejriwal government, in association with the Pusa Agricultural Institute, initiated the implementation of the bio-decomposer process. Under the process, the capsules produced by Pusa Agricultural Institute are mixed along with readily available inputs to create a fermented liquid solution to be sprayed on the farm fields to soften the stubble to curb stubble burning. In a bid to cease stubble burning and help farmers, the Kejriwal government sprayed the fermented solution on 700 hectares of paddy fields in Delhi. This was a perfect example of doorstep delivery of the bio-decomposing solution to the farmers, with the government using its own machinery and resources to spray the solution on the fields, that too without costing anything for the farmers. The bio-decomposing solution has been proposed as a very cheap alternative as the entire process of creating the solution to spraying it on the fields across the entire Delhi cost only around Rs 20 lakhs.

Green Delhi app: a mobile app to report pollution norm violations and immediate solution

Among a slew of measures launched under ‘Yuddh, Pradushan Ke Viruddh’, the Kejriwal government launched a photo, audio, and video-based “Green Delhi’ app to enable citizens of Delhi to report pollution violations and local sources of pollution in the city, such as garbage burning, dust due to construction activities, industrial activities, and other local pollutants. A complaint lodged on the app will be received by the concerned departments and the complaints will be resolved in a time-bound manner.