NEW DELHI: With stubble burning resuming in Punjab and deterioration of air quality in National Capital Region, the Centre has called a meeting of environment ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi on October 1 to discuss the progress on air pollution management plans.
The move comes as air quality in Delhi-NCR is expected to further deteriorate the next month. Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar said the meeting will review the short, medium and longterm plans implemented since 2016, along with a review of the current status of air quality.
“We will also review CPCB’s performance of the last two years and teams are set up every year October 15 onwards to handle the situation.”
Environment secretaries, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) representatives, and officials from the pollution control boards, municipal corporations and New Delhi Municipal Council will attend the virtual meeting.
“As winter kicks in from mid-October in Delhi-NCR, and stubble burning begins in Punjab, the level of pollution deteriorates,” Javadekar said.
The environment minister asserted that there is no magic bullet for mitigation of air pollution.
“The factors are meteorological and geographical which gets exacerbated by manmade factors every year during 2-3 months. The Centre, the Delhi government, neighbouring states and citizens need to work in synergy. Its a shared responsibility,” he added.