Efforts of the Central Pollution Control Board are resulting in more ‘good days’ in terms of environment in the National Capital Region of Delhi. Giving details at a Press Conference in New Delhi today, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, said that a high level meeting of the five States to address the problem of air pollution in Delhi, due to stubble burning will be held soon. To control stubble burning, the government has given more than 20 thousand machines to farmers in Punjab and Haryana at a cost of about Rs.1150 crore, the Minister said.
Shri Javadekar said “Recognition of existence of a problem is beginning of solution of the problem. The pollution problem of Delhi-NCR started aggravating since 2006 and was not recognized till 2014. In 2015, under the supervision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Air Quality Index (AQI) was launched. Today, 113 AQI monitoring stations are present in Delhi-NCR and 29 more are to be installed soon”. The Minister highlighted that out of 273 days till 30th September in 2019, number of ‘Good’, ‘Satisfactory’ and ‘Moderate’ days were 165 as against 104 in 2016.
The Minister further informed that Bharat Stage Six (BS VI), is a revolutionary step in the transformation of fuels. He added that there has been 80% reduction in Particulate Matter emissions and 30% reduction in Nitrogen Oxides emissions in BS IV heavy duty diesel vehicles compared with BS III norms. Nearly Rs 60,000 Cr were spent on switching over to BS VI fuels. “The Country will shift to BS VI vehicular emission norms from BS IV by April 2020. BS VI petrol/diesel is already available in Delhi/NCR”, said Shri Javadekar.
Terming the launch of green fire crackers with green logo and QR coding system on Saturday, a historic initiative, the Minister advised not to burst crackers this Diwali. However if one chooses to, then opt for the green crackers which is aimed at reducing pollution and health risks, Shri Javadekar said.
To Listen BS6-compliant vehicles from April 2020 News click on the player button.
