Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Thursday that the winter action plan regarding pollution would be prepared on the suggestions of the officers and representatives of various departments and institutions.

At an ‘Expert Meet’ on tackling the city’s pollution woes during winter held on Thursday, chaired by Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai, leading officials and representatives from all the concerned departments including DPCC, Environment, UNEP, EPIC India, Clean Air Asia, IIT Kanpur (online), Greenpeace, IARI, and TERI participated and discussed innovative strategies, with artificial rain emerging as a top recommendation, an official statement said.

According to the minister, on the suggestion of artificial rain by the experts, a letter will be written to the Union Environment Minister on Friday to hold a meeting with the experts of IIT Kanpur and all the concerned departments.

The main objective of this meeting is to make the winter action plan more effective with the suggestions given by experts, who suggested that artificial rain should be made on the severe level pollution days in Delhi.

Rai further said, “The Delhi government, under the leadership of CM Arvind Kejriwal, is continuously working to reduce air pollution by making long-term and short-term plans. It has succeeded in reducing pollution by making a Summer Action Plan and Winter Action Plan in collaboration with all the concerned departments. Due to joint efforts made by the departments, while the number of good, satisfactory, and moderate days was 110 in 2016, it increased to 206 in 2023,” he claimed.

“Separate action plans will be made for hotspots to reduce pollution and improve air quality. Experts have also given their opinion that by making separate action plans at all these hot spots, pollution should be reduced there so that pollution in Delhi can be further reduced,” he added.

Rai said every year our government launches Summer and Winter Action Plans to tackle pollution during the respective seasons, and 14 focus points have been identified in this year’s WAP.

The environment minister shared, “The main suggestions in the ‘Expert Meet’ include a change in the behavior of people related to pollution, awareness campaigns should be run for this. Encouraging work from home in advance, instead of odd-even, we should apply the formula of voluntary restriction on vehicles of one slot, the suggestion to have different timings of different offices, the suggestion to buy heaters from the CSR fund of companies and distribute them among the guards of the society to prevent burning of biomass in winter, encourage the use of electric vehicles in hot spots where the level of pollution becomes high and the suggestion of artificial rain is important.”

Minister Gopal Rai said the suggestions given by the experts in the Expert Meet will be included in the Winter Action Plan. These organizations have presented their views and advised on major topics like vehicle and dust pollution, hotspots, development of green areas, stubble burning and garbage, and dialogue with the central government and neighboring states.

He added that the experts have also given many suggestions for biomass burning, and the same will be made part of the WAP accordingly, while Rai further said that a review meeting with concerned departments will be held on September 5.