Delhi government impose complete ban on burning of firecrackers

Government also organized a program to spread awareness about the air pollution and its effect...

New Delhi: In a joint meeting of states with the Centre on Friday, the Delhi government urged the Union environment ministry to impose a complete ban on firecracker burning and the movement of diesel buses across the National Capital Region.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said, that Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav held a meeting with environment ministers of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. During this meeting, Delhi suggested several measures to curb pollution in the entire NCR region.

Earlier, Mr Rai had requested the Centre to convene a meeting of all NCR states to collaboratively develop an action plan to combat pollution during the winter season.

In a letter to Mr Yadav, Mr Rai had said that the Delhi government has taken numerous steps to curb air pollution during the winter season but these steps won't be effective unless Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh address the sources of pollution in the NCR region.

Many industrial units in NCR states still use polluting fuels. They should be swiftly converted to piped natural gas. The highly polluting brick kilns operating in NCR states should be required to adopt zig-zag technology to mitigate pollution, he said.

Also, electricity should be made available to all housing societies in NCR states to reduce reliance on diesel generators. The concerned state governments should also redirect non-destined vehicles from their point of origin on the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways, he added.

On Friday the Delhi government organized a run to raise awareness regarding the effects of air pollution and to seek public support in improving the city's air quality.

The government plans to re-launch the 'Red Light on Gaadi Off' campaign to combat vehicular pollution in the city. Another public awareness campaign, 'Patakhe Nahi Diye Jalao,' will be reintroduced to discourage the burning of firecrackers.

Last month Delhi had announced a comprehensive ban on the manufacturing, storage, sale and use of firecrackers within the capital city.

The city government also introduced a 15-point action plan to mitigate air pollution in the capital during the winter season, focusing on addressing dust pollution, vehicular emissions, and open burning of garbage.

For each of the 13 air pollution hotspots in Delhi specific action plans have been developed based on real-time air quality data collected from 40 monitoring stations in the capital. There are already ongoing campaigns to combat dust pollution and industrial emissions.