Toxic Delhi: 4 CMs to meet, find solutions

New Delhi: For the first time, the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has called a meeting of the chief ministers of Delhi, UP, Haryana, and Punjab on December 20 at Vigyan Bhawan to discuss issues concerning air pollution in Delhi and NCR areas. The meeting will be chaired by Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Earlier, chief secretaries of Delhi and other states used to attend the NCRPB meetings, which were chaired by the Union urban development secretary. A source said that the meeting of the chief ministers will discuss IIT Kanpur’s recommendations on the action plan to curb air pollution in Delhi and its neighbouring states.

It is learnt that the NCR states will also provide the status of the implementation of the plan of action recommended by IIT Kanpur in the “Comprehensive Study on Air Pollution and Green House Gases in Delhi.”

There are indications that the NCRPB may direct Delhi and its neighbouring states and the concerned agencies to prepare a detailed time-bound plan of action (short and long term) for implementation of the recommendations of Kanpur IIT study with regional, sub-regional and functional plans towards achieving improved air quality as per the directions of the high court.

The NCRPB regional plan for NCR 2021, which was notified in 2005, provides policy frame work for balanced development of the NCR areas. It has laid down detailed policies and proposals to address various issues related to decongesting Delhi. But very little has been done to implement the plan. For instance, the Western and Eastern Peripheral Expressways conceived to decongest the capital’s roads exists only on paper. While the Western Peripheral Expressway is only 60 per cent complete, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway is yet to take off. Union minister Nitin Gadkari himself had stated in October that the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be completed in 400 days.

A senior official said that NCR is contiguous extension of activities similar to that of the national capital territory of Delhi (NCTD). “The pollution levels in NCR were also similar to that of NCTD. It is expected that the findings and action plan of this study are applicable for NCR to bring air quality improvement in the entire region. In view of the limited financial resources, it is suggested that no separate or respective study is required in NCR and Delhi for re-establishing source-receptor impacts,” he said.