"Working day, night to control pollution": Delhi Minister Gopal Rai asserts amidst worsening air pollution

New Delhi: In another step to mitigate rising air pollution in the state, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday announced that the Delhi government will monitor hotspots across Delhi through drones, adding that his government is working day and night to control the pollution.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai visited the Wazirpur industrial area on Friday, which is one of the 13 hotspots in the city.
Speaking to mediapersons, Rai said, "As we had announced a winter action plan to control winter pollution, in that winter action plan, different measures are being taken to control pollution, to control vehicle pollution, to control biomass burning. The Aam Aadmi Party government is working day and night. But as you all know in our 13 hotspots, the level of pollution is higher than the normal AQI level in Delhi. Therefore, this time we decided that we would monitor hotspots through drones and under that, today Wazirpur is one of our 13 hot spots. Here today the drone has been piloted by the panel agency."
He added that the drone will take pictures of the hot spots of Wazirpur in a range of 200 meters and the sources of pollution in different areas and neighbourhoods and through these pictures we will analyse them and submit a report to the DPCC and Environment Department.
"The purpose of piloting this drone is to identify the sources of pollution from various places in the sky using modern technology and make focused action plans accordingly. This drone will take pictures of the hot spots of Wazirpur in a range of 200 meters and the sources of pollution in different areas and neighbourhoods and through these pictures we will analyse them and submit a report to the DPCC and Environment Department," he stated.
The national capital Delhi was engulfed in a layer of smog on Friday and the air quality was recorded at 283 at 8 a.m.
As per data recorded at 8:00 am, the AQI at Anand Vihar was recorded as 218, 245 at Punjabi Bagh, 276 at India Gate, and 288 at Jhilmil Industrial Area. On October 24, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud shared his concerns about the rising pollution levels in the city during an informal interaction with journalists at the Supreme Court.
He mentioned that his doctor has advised him to avoid morning walks due to the poor air quality, which could lead to respiratory issues.
Meanwhile, Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena wrote a letter to Chief Minister Atishi on Thursday regarding Delhi's pollution and called for using Civil Defence Volunteers (CDV) to help with pollution mitigation.