Aam Aadmi Party MLAs of Delhi took to the road on Thursday to make people aware of the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign launched by the Delhi government for controlling air pollution in the city.
Addressing the MLAs near Chandgi Ram Akhara, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said the new drive would provide strength to the “Yuddh Pradushan Ke Viruddh” initiative of the AAP government. He also
informed that the councillors of Delhi would run a public awareness campaign at the Barakhamba Road intersection on 25 October in this regard.
The minister said the Delhi government took up forcefully the matter of stubble burning with the Centre and the neighbouring states but in vain. Had they not been negligent on this front, farmers would have
not been forced to burn stubble. He again urged the Centre to talk to the states to end the problem of stubble burning.
He asserted that the pollution through stubble burning cannot be reduced by applying the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).
Gopal Rai said at this stage the level of pollution had come down in the city due to the rain as the burning of stubble had stopped, but incidents of stubble burning would increase soon. The increased
stubble burning will adversely affect Delhi’s environment, he said.
He pointed out, “Our effort is to make people aware of the need to control pollution that is generated inside Delhi. A public participation campaign is going on under the leadership of Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal and we are taking it forward with enthusiasm. We, the MLAs of Delhi, have gathered here to make people aware of the campaign. After this, on 25 October, the councillors of Delhi will run a public awareness campaign on Barakhamba Road.”
Rai said, “Aam Aadmi Party MLAs are present here, but MLAs of other parties have not come. Information about the event was given to all of them. The government is emphasising public participation and is
running different campaigns, including the anti-dust drive. Increasing the participation of people in this fight will reduce their share in pollution as well.”
He informed that there would be a joint meeting with SDMs and officials of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee tomorrow. “This campaign will be taken to the mohalla level. In the meeting tomorrow, based on the decision taken, we will take the campaign to a higher level”, Rai added.