To strengthen fight against pollution, Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday launched Red Light On, Gaadi Off campaign in all the 272 wards in Delhi.
Conveying to the masses about collective efforts to deal pollution problem, Rai appealed to the Central Government to analyse bio-decomposer as alternative to the issue of stubble burning in the neighbouring States of Delhi.
He said that through initiatives such as 'Red Light On, Gaadi Off', the Delhi Government is combating internal sources of pollution in the Capital. "To curb rising pollution levels in Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal on October 5, launched the “Yuddh, Pradhushan ke Viruddh” campaign.
“Under this umbrella campaign, initiatives to combat pollution caused by dust, stubble burning or vehicles were launched. Anti-dust drive was also launched under this campaign. 'Red light On, Gaadi Off' campaign is being implemented within Delhi till November 15. We are taking it to 272 wards as the pollution levels are increasingly rising."
"But, we have always maintained that we will do everything in our capacity to make sure pollution is contained, but we cannot do anything to stop the toxic haze from stubble burning to pollute the city. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar says stubble burning contributes 4 - 6 per cent whereas the statistics clearly state 40 percent contribution," said Rai.
Rai said Delhiites are working hard day and night to curb pollution levels. Stubble burning is the biggest contributor of pollution in Delhi especially ahead of Diwali season. "How should Delhi deal with that? I request the Central Government to take some action rather than just making a commission, because pollution combined with the current pandemic can cause catastrophic consequences for the people of Delhi," he added.
He further said, “Pollution is not defined by state boundaries, it is defined by air sets. It has an air set of around 300 kms, which means pollution will affect the radius of 300 kms. People are being ignorant of this fact. In order to combat pollution, there is a requirement for action to be implemented on the ground. Collective effort is required to deal with this issue. But, we in Delhi, have decided to create awareness against pollution and its damaging effects, amongst Delhiites with their participation. We are launching the Red Light campaign in all 272 wards to reduce the local sources of pollution in Delhi."
On the issue of ban of crackers by Rajasthan, Rai said, “Pollution is defined by the air set. Individual effort is not enough to fight pollution. There is a need to implement collective action. All ministers need to take cognizance of this fact. In Delhi, it was repeatedly being said that the rising pollution level is due to stubble burning in neighbouring states, and the response we received from the central government and states was that there is no alternative to stubble burning."
"In Delhi, we have used the bio decomposer developed by Pusa Research Institute.
The report of the same has been extremely positive. On November 4, CM Arvind Kejriwal shall be inspecting the ground reality at Hiranki. We want to tell the states and the central government that there is no cheaper alternative than this for stubble burning. We request them to physically witness the bio decomposer at work," he added.