"Civil Defence volunteers to monitor implementation of pollution control measures": Gopal Rai

New Delhi: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said that the government has decided to deploy civil defence volunteers to monitor the implementation of Stage -II of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the national capital. The volunteers will be deployed for dust control, to manage the pollution being done by vehicles and to regulate garbage burning incidents.
"Pollution levels rising. GRAP-II has been implemented in Delhi. In the meeting today, we discussed how GRAP-II's implementation can be strengthened. Delhi's Chief Minister (Atishi Marlena), Lieutenant Governor along with the government officials were present during the meeting. Mainly, we identified the less number of workforce available for the implementation of measures (to control pollution). We concluded that civil defence volunteers must be deployed at places for dust control, vehicle pollution control and to regulate garbage burning," the Environment minister said.
Rai also expressed the need to have the presence of more traffic police officials at the eastern and western peripheral expressways at the border of Delhi to divert vehicles. He said that the traffic of diesel buses owned by private companies or owners must be managed and action should be taken against them.
"Extra traffic police are to be deployed at the entry points in Delhi to divert vehicles. For this, we will coordinate with the neighbouring states. Also, it has been discussed to change the timings of government offices of both the central and Delhi governments so that there is less rush (on the roads). I have already written to state governments in neighbouring states to manage the flow of diesel buses. But (diesel) buses that are privately owned should also be managed and action should be taken. We have also requested the LG to ask the central government for artificial rain in Delhi on a pilot-project basis. The LG has also assured us that he will talk to the central government regarding this," Rai said.
Rai further said that he has confidence that all parties affected by the pollution will get together to combat it.
"We appeal that everyone should get together since the pollution affects everyone," he said.
Earlier, Rai wrote to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for the third time requesting him to convene a meeting with all stakeholders regarding the rising air pollution in the national capital. He also said that there was a need to discuss cloud seeding to curb the worsening of pollution. He highlighted that the Delhi government had already implemented the Winter Action Plan on September 25 this year and is exploring alternative solutions for immediate relief.