An alleged delay by the Delhi government in issuing critical government orders to tackle air pollution in the city, has led LG VK Saxena to express his “displeasure”. Sources in the LG office told PTI that the important order to mitigate air pollution in the national capital should have been issued in October but it has still not been issued yet. Saxena has termed this as “gross negligence”.
The report said a source claimed that the lapse on part of the state government is due to the fact that Environment Minister Gopal Rai did not clear the file related to issuing such orders for about a month. The order was in response to the Supreme Court’s orders of November 4, 2019, and November 6, 2019, as well as the CAQM’s recommendations of August 8, 2019, an ANI report said. The file related to the order was prepared by the Chief Secretary and submitted to the Environment Minister for approval following which the LG would have given his nod. However, the Environment Minister did not take note of the order which resulted in a delay in forwarding it to the LG. The file was then sent by the Chief Secretary directly to the LG who then gave his approval.
The intervening period, especially during the two weeks in November, was marked by severe and severe pollution levels in the city. The air quality in the city continued to be in a very poor and poor zone. It is required to implement various measures such as regular monitoring of the pollution hotspots, the establishment of effective dust control measures, and the closure of industries that are not in conformity with the norms.
The state government on the other hand has stated that a 15-point action plan was launched by Chief Minister Kejriwal to check air pollution during winters in the capital which is why the level of pollution in the national capital is under control as compared to past several years, PTI report said.