Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Union Environment Minister Anil Dave on Saturday evening to discuss steps to tackle the rising level of pollution. Kejriwal once again brought up the issue of crop burning and said farmers need to be given some incentives so that they stop burning agricultural residue. Dave said he would hold another meeting with the environment ministers of the states in the National Capital Region on Monday to discuss the menace, reported ANI.
Earlier, the chief minister had referred to the present condition of Delhi as a “gas chamber” and sought the Centre’s help to tackle the alarming levels of pollution. “The Centre can sit with the chief ministers [of Punjab and Haryana] and chalk out a solution," he added.
The chief minister also said that the Delhi government will hire an agency within a few weeks that will study the sources of pollution afresh. He, however, blamed stubble burning as the primary cause. “Fireworks during Diwali marginally added to the pollution. But other things inside Delhi did not drastically change. So the smog is mainly due to smoke from farm fires. Few reports have put the volume of stubble being burned at around 16-20 million tonnes,” said Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has called a high-level meeting on Monday to take stock of the immediate, short-and-long-term measures to combat the rising air pollution.
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