Bhupender Yadav, CM Yogi review UP’s air pollution action plan for Delhi-NCR

Lucknow: Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Friday held a review meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to assess progress on measures to improve air quality in Delhi-NCR.

Yadav emphasised the need for accelerated implementation, stronger inter-agency coordination and strict enforcement to ensure substantial reduction in air pollution levels before the onset of winter.

Emphasising the urgency of timely action, the Union Minister said, "The window before the winter season must be fully utilised to implement pollution control measures in mission mode. Timely execution, effective coordination and strict enforcement will be critical to achieving visible improvements in Delhi-NCR's air quality."

Reviewing measures to curb Road Dust, Yadav said end-to-end paving and greening of roads with local-species shrubs/grasses during monsoons should be undertaken on priority, with focused attention on pothole identification and repair, construction of footpaths and pavements, roadside greening, and deep cleaning of roads.

He urged that all gaps in the deployment of Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRSMs) be bridged at the earliest, while suggesting that all MRSMs be geo-tagged to facilitate real-time monitoring of road-cleaning operations and improve accountability.

Adityanath welcomed the government's measures to curb air pollution in Delhi NCR. He directed all state government officials to take timely action on different measures discussed during the meeting.

He thanked the Union Minister for organising the review meeting and sharing his valuable guidance in this matter.

Those present on the occasion included senior state officials; Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirtivardhan Singh; Uttar Pradesh Minister for Environment and Forest Arun Kumar; and State Minister of Transport (Independent charge) Dayashankar Singh, said an official statement.

Earlier, underscoring the importance of Public Participation and coordinated institutional action, Yadav said that air pollution can be effectively tackled only through a 'Whole of Government' and 'Whole of Society' approach.

The Union Minister stressed strict implementation of the government's advisories to curb air pollution.

Reviewing the status of Electric Mobility, the Union Minister stressed that deployment of electric buses and installation of EV charging stations across the NCR municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh should be expedited, noting significant gaps in the existing fleet.

He congratulated the Uttar Pradesh Government on the rapidly increasing tree-covered area across the State.

On the issue of End-of-Life (EoL) vehicles, Yadav requested that the authorities expedite issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for transfer of eligible EoL vehicles outside the NCR, while simultaneously encouraging scientific scrapping of old and unfit vehicles.

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