Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Public Works Department (PWD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and other agencies concerned to take up a dust-free Delhi drive over the next one week or 10 days.

Saxena issued the direction after he chaired a meeting to review air pollution in the national capital, as per the LG office.

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Stressing upon preparedness for mitigating air pollution, the LG also asked that drive to be converted into a year-long campaign, it said.

Saxena noted that pollution caused by road dust is one of the two major contributors to air pollution in Delhi, and with the rains having stopped for the past 3-4 days, dried up mud /silt accumulated on roads, is flying high in the environment causing major air pollution.

“Dilapidated unrepaired roads, back-flowing sewer lines and un-silted drains has resulted in huge amounts of mud/silt getting deposited on roads and footpaths. This mud/silt, wet till now due to continuous rains, is drying up and flying higher due to moving traffic,” he said.

The LG has advised the road-owning agencies – primarily MCD and PWD to clean the roads of the dust, not leave it accumulated on the road and transport it to designated dumping sites.

Similarly, agencies responsible for cleaning of drains and sewer lines, viz MCD, I&FCD (Irrigation and Flood Control Department) and DJB have been asked to coordinate and get the silt / mud picked up and disposed of, the LG office said on Monday.

Saxena has emphasised that even if it rains, the exercise of removing the wet mud/silt from the roads should be continued so as to ensure that they do not flow into drains and sewer lines, in the process choking them.

The departments/agencies have been asked to immediately deploy teams and record the works undertaken through ‘before and after’ pictures and videos, the LG office said.

The status of ongoing works will be regularly provided to the LG Secretariat and Saxena will review the status after completion of the first phase of the dust-free Delhi exercise, the office informed.