Advancing the existing mechanisms in place to eliminate pollution in Delhi, the Kejriwal government launched an anti-dust campaign-2.0 to crack down on polluters on Friday. Environment Minister Gopal Rai informed media persons that thorough inspections of construction sites and a crackdown on any violation by dedicated teams will take place throughout Delhi.

The minister said the second phase had been launched after the successful phase one in which a majority of the sites were found complying with norms and violators were fined around Rs1.3 crore.

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He added the incoming emissions from Punjab, Haryana and UP were constantly heightening Delhi’s pollution and the available statistics showed an appalling 45,000 instances of stubble burning during the last 10 days.

Marking the beginning of the second phase of the Delhi government’s anti-pollution campaign, Gopal Rai conducted a surprise inspection of an NBCC construction site in Karkardooma today. While the project checked most of the regulation boxes, NBCC was fined Rs 5 lakh for the violations found.

Talking about the sources of pollution in Delhi, he said, “The current levels of pollution are heightening due to the consistent increase in stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It has been reported that a total of 45000 such instances of stubble burning have been recorded till now from these states. The impact of these staggering numbers is being witnessed by the people of Delhi as the air changes to accommodate more impurities, to accumulate more pollution.”

The phase one of the anti-dust campaign was launched in October. In the phase two of this drive, all the dedicated teams of the government will work together to curb dust pollution, which was mainly coming from construction sites and increasing the PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollutants.

All the agencies in Delhi consisting of 25 departments have been instructed to form their respective anti-dust cells. And so, all the construction sites in Delhi will be actively inspected for violations, Gopal Rai said.

He pointed out, “The Delhi government is running many campaigns to check pollution inside Delhi, including ‘Red light on gaadi off’, the stubble decomposition drive and the anti-open burning campaign. As many as 550 teams have been formed to stop open burning.”

Till now the Delhi government has completed the spraying of the bio-decomposer on paddy stubble in more than 2,700 acres of fields and by November 20, the bio-decomposer will be sprayed in 4,000 acres