Every road, irrespective of ownership, in the National Capital Region will either be paved or greened by August 2020, leaving no dust road in any of the five NCR cities—Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad. C.K. Mishra, secretary, ministry of environment, forests and climate change made this claim at a press briefing on Monday.
Dust is an integral problem in North India, and with the pollution load in the air increasing, Mishra said, every attempt at reducing it was important.
He was speaking after a meeting convened on Monday to discuss air pollution. All officials have had egg on their face after media reported the poor turn up of members at a parliamentary committee meeting on the same topic last week. Only four of the 29 members had shown up.
Besides Mishra, Central Pollution Control Board chief SPS Parihar and officials from Delhi police were also present at Monday's meeting. Chief secretaries of nearby states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana joined through a video link up. The effort of all stakeholders was clearly to show a united front. There has been much criticism of officials and politicians playing the blame game on the issue of air pollution.
Mishra said the meet had agreed on certain points which would be implemented throughout December. He did not elaborate on this, but stressed that all stakeholders are constantly in touch over the issue.
Interestingly, the meet occurred on a day when the air cleared up considerably due to strong winds, and Delhi saw blue skies for the third consecutive day. Also, the stubble burning season in Punjab, a major contributor to air pollution, is coming to an end.
