Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai launches Green War Room for better implementation of Winter Action Plan

New Delhi [India], September 30 : Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday launched Green War Room at the Delhi Secretariat for better implementation of the Winter Action Plan against pollution.
He said due to the steps taken by the Delhi government, a huge reduction in pollution has been recorded. While the number of polluted days was 243 in 2016, it has come down to 159 in 2023.
Delhi's air pollution has reduced by 34.6 per cent. As part of the public awareness campaign, a "Harit Kalash Yatra" will be taken out in Connaught Place on October 1, added the Delhi Environment Minister.
Addressing the media, Rai said, "Winter is round the corner in Delhi. With the onset of winter, the environment in Delhi becomes increasingly unfavourable. The wind speed is going to decrease gradually, the rain will stop, and the temperature is going to fall. Under such unfavourable conditions, the level of pollution in Delhi starts going up. Owing to these three factors, the gases that otherwise get dissolved reach the ground, and because of that, the level of air pollution starts increasing."
The Environment Minister said, "The additional feature of the Green War Room this year is to analyse data with drone mapping. Secondly, the data of the Real Time Source Apportionment Study, which is done at our centre at Deendayal Upadhyay Marg, will also be analysed from the Green War Room. Thirdly, analysis of the satellite data on the smoke produced from stubble burning at various places will also be done on a daily basis in the war room."
Gopal Rai added, like the previous years, the entire Delhi will be connected with the Green War Room through the Green Delhi app. Through the Green Delhi app, the whole of Delhi becomes a participant in the fight against pollution.
The theme "Milkar Chalen, Pradooshan se Laden" (Let's fight pollution together) can be made meaningful with public participation. Through the Green Delhi app, people in Delhi can see any activity that causes pollution anywhere. "Join the fight against pollution by downloading the Green Delhi app from the Play Store today. And in this entire fight, you too become a green warrior," he said.
Gopal Rai said the work that is done from the war room is the monitoring of hotspots because hotspots are the biggest hurdle in the pollution level of Delhi in winters as they increase the total AQI of Delhi. When the AQI of Delhi is 200, the AQI at 13 hotspots is 125 to 150 more than normal. This makes the AQI level of the whole of Delhi jump.
The Environment Minister further said, the data of 24-hour monitoring stations that have been set up at different places in Delhi from where we monitor PM10 and PM2.5 will be analysed at the Green War Room. Also, the air pollution that we used to measure in terms of PM10 and PM2.5 earlier will now be analysed in terms of the Air Quality Index to know the actual position. So, AQI monitoring will also start today on a daily basis. "An 8-member team of our environmental engineers, experts, has been constituted to run the Green War Room," he said.
Gopal Rai said our war room team also works to resolve the complaints received from the nodal officers of the 33 departments of Delhi. These departments mainly include MCD, PWD, DDA, Revenue Department, DSIDC, Delhi Jal Board, NDMC, Delhi Cantonment Board, DUSIB, Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Police, and Transport Department.
The Environment Minister said so far our experiment with the Green Delhi app has been quite successful. After the launch of the Green Delhi app, 88 per cent of about 80,473 complaints received so far have been resolved through the war room. "We are confident that this time too, the way the government is taking forward the campaign against pollution along with the people, the Green War Room will play an important role in it (combating pollution)," he said.
The Environment Minister said that the Delhi Government announced the Winter Action Plan on September 25, and the departments concerned have already started work on it. Due to the steps taken by the Delhi government, a huge reduction in pollution has been recorded. "We are starting this campaign against pollution from the War Room today. Since our government was formed, we started implementing pollution control measures. The result was that pollution has reduced by 34.6 per cent in the last few years, and this achievement of ours was not possible without the cooperation of the people of Delhi."
Gopal Rai said that on October 1, "Harit Kalash Yatra" will be taken out in Connaught Place under the public awareness campaign. "The main objective of this Kalash Yatra is to develop the green area of Delhi," he added.