Bracing for spike in air pollution in the national Capital in winter, the Aam Aadmi Party Government on Monday urged the Centre to provide helicopters/aircraft for aerial sprinkling of water across Delhi to settle pollutants. Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain has written a letter to Union Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan seeking his cooperation on the plan.
Saying the Delhi Government is ready to bear the cost of aerial sprinkling of water across the city,
Hussain, in his letter, urged the Union Environment Minister to take up the matter with the Civil Aviation Ministry
for the use of choppers/aircraft for the job.
“In view of the continuous poor air quality in Delhi, it is requested that your good office may kindly propose to
Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, to carry out an exercise to sprinkle water aerially through helicopters/aircraft to settle particulate matters in Delhi,” Hussain said in his letter.
“I hope innovative positive responses by the Government of India, and the Delhi Government (GDCTD) can definitely help in protecting the health of residents,” he added.
In the last winter, air quality in Delhi and National Capital Region had hit a new low, forcing the city Government to reintroduce car rationing formula to bring down the pollution level.
Millions of residents had struggled with hacking coughs and burning eyes, many schools across the city had either shut down or ended all outdoor activities.
Hussain also reviewed the ambient air quality in Delhi in a meeting with the officials of the Environment Department and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
In a review meeting, DPCC officials informed that ambient air quality this year is relatively better than that of 2016 for the same period with special reference to particulate matters.
According to the Delhi Government press report, assessment of Ambient Air Quality has been undertaken at 16 locations, RK Puram, Mandir Marg, Punjabi Bagh, Civil lines, Anand Vihar, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Major Dhyanchand National Stadium, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, PGDAV College (Sriniwaspuri), DITE Okhla, Mother Dairy (Patparganj), ITI Vivek Vihar, ITI Jahangirpuri, DITE Wazirpur, Satyawati college (Ashok Vihar) and Shaheed Sukhdev Business college (Rohini).
“Of these 16 locations, RK Puram, MandirMarg, Punjabi Bagh, Civil lines and Anand Vihar monitoring stations are part of already existing network and have the comparable data for last year while other 11 stations are part of new network,” DPCC official said in review meeting.
At these 11 stations, data for particulate matter was only collected as Graded Action Response Plan (GARP) and is based on particulate concentration
According to DPCC database on pollution, Air Quality Index (AQI) trend from October 17 to October 22, 2017 indicates “severe” condition in the city. “The value of 403 was recorded on the next day of Diwali on October 20 2017. The index shifted to “very poor” condition from October 21 onwards with value of 329 on October 22, 2017,” DPCC official mentioned.
Further in the meeting, DPCC officials also informed the Environment Minister that work of strengthening of Ambient Air Quality Network is in final stages and that all new monitoring stations will be functional by October-end.
In view of onset of winter season in Delhi, the Minister stressed for gearing up of the all stakeholder departments and agencies for keeping strict vigil on violations pertaining to prohibition of open burning and dust control at construction sites.
The Minister further directed to properly enforce directions issued by DPCC under Air Act regarding ban on operation of petrol/kerosene/diesel-run gen sets.