Delhi LG VK Saxena raises air pollution issue at Northern Zonal Council meeting

Amritsar (Punjab) [India], September 26 : Delhi LG VK Saxena raised the issue of air pollution, especially due to the burning of crop residues (parali), at the  Northern Zonal Council held in Amritsar on Tuesday.
LG Saxena who represented the National Capital on this Inter-State and Inter-UT Forum that is headed by the Union Home Minister, is reported to have requested all neighbouring states to work in tandem to address this issue that chokes Delhi air every winter.
He said that even after the issue was flagged and discussed in the last zonal council meeting at Jaipur in 2022, the issue remained unaddressed, especially on the part of Punjab.
Saxena underlined that, while other states including Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (which is not a part of NZC), had undertaken substantial efforts to address the menace, despite him having written to the Punjab Chief Minister on 04.11.2022, smoke from the state had led to making the National Capital gasp under acute air pollution. 
The LG informed the gathering that, as far as local causes of air pollution are concerned, Delhi had taken several mitigating measures in the shape of End-to-End Carpeting and greening of pavements to prevent dust pollution, banning construction activities and using water sprinklers / anti-smog guns to address the issue during its peak.
Similarly, 500 electric buses were introduced into the public transport system and more were on the way.  He strongly urged the neighbouring states to use technological interventions to contain air pollution at the source itself. 
The other issues concerning Delhi that are reported to have been discussed, include the increased supply of water to the city from Dams in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and pollution in the Yamuna, especially on account of drains flowing in and from Gurugram, Bahadurgarh and Sonepat in Haryana.
Saxena said that fast-tracking the agreements with regards to the Dams will result in a win-win situation for all, with Delhi getting adequate water for its drinking water requirements and the other States, where the Dams are situated getting additional electricity and reservoirs of their own.
He stressed that the 03 agreements for Renuka, Kisau and Pakhware Came to be operationalized at the earliest so that the water shortage in the City could be addressed.
With regards to pollution in Yamuna, Saxena brought out that exceedingly good work had been done on the part of Haryana, which had trapped and diverted the water for treatment from TD-1 & TD-2 in Gurugram, leading to lesser pollution in the Najafgarh Drain and consequently the Yamuna. 
He thanked the Haryana Chief Minister for his proactive response to his letter in this regard and informed that as a result of this, a team of officers headed by the Chief Secretary had personally visited the LG Secretariat and helped address the issue.
The issue of inter-state security and the dimensions attached to it due to porous borders, which included drug trafficking, cybercrime and inter-state movement of criminals was also discussed in the meeting.
The LG is said to have stressed that many problems and issues in Delhi have an inter-state dimension in terms of causes and consequences, and to deal with them, it was necessary that all States cooperate on a common platform.