Delhi’s environment minister calls for key meet amidst drop in air quality

New Delhi, Nov 09: Delhi's environment minister Gopal Rai will hold a meeting today amidst the severe drop in air quality in the National Capital owing to pollution.

The meeting would be held with officials from the departments concerned to deliberate on the steps to be taken to bring down pollution and improve air quality in the city.

Rai on Monday had said, "\we have called a meeting of all departments concerned, including environment department, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Public Works Department (PWD) and municipal corporations, at the Delhi secretariat to discuss what more can be done to reduce Delhi's own share of pollution."

He also said that stubble burning from the neighbouring states was the primary cause for the rise in pollution. We had urged the Centre to call for an emergency meeting of all the neighbouring states to reduce incidents of stubble burning Rai also had said.

Rai also wrote to Union Environment Minister, Bhupendra Yadav to seek his attention on the current state of affairs. He urged the minister to hold an interaction on an urgent basis with the environment ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

For the last three days Delhi has recorded severe air quality due to the accumulation of emissions from a combination of factors including bursting of firecrackers on Diwali and stubble burning. On Tuesday, the pollution levels lowered marginally due to strong winds and the Air Quality Index was at 388 3pm.