New Delhi: The Delhi government on Monday (May 15) said it held a roundtable conference to discuss the findings of a real-time source apportionment study on air pollution and develop a strategy to further improve air quality in the city and the National Capital Region. The “Save Environment Roundtable Conference” took place at the Delhi Secretariat on Monday and was attended by representatives from Commission for Air Quality Management, Central Pollution Control Board, SAFAR, United Nations Environment Programme, India Meteorological Department, World Bank, Centre for Science and Environment, The Energy and Resources Institute, and NCR states. Mr. Rai said,
We shared the data collected during the source apportionment study over the past six months with the participants, sought their suggestions and prepared a strategy to further reduce air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
The ultimate goal is to devise policies at local and regional levels to enhance the air quality in Delhi, he said. Real-time source apportionment (RTSA) studies help identify factors responsible for an increase in air pollution at any spot, such as vehicles, dust, biomass burning, and emissions from industries, so that preventive measures can be taken accordingly.
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Mr. Rai said orders have been issued to install mobile air quality monitoring vans at 13 air pollution hotspots in Delhi to ascertain the contribution of different pollution sources in real time. The minister said,
Thanks to the RTSA study, air quality can now be assessed and analysed on a daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal basis, enabling the government to promptly address sudden increases in pollution levels. The monitoring of pollutants such as PM2.5, NO2, NOx, CO, SO2, ozone, secondary inorganic and organic aerosols has become more streamlined and precise.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had launched the real-time source apportionment study as a crucial component of the action plan to fight air pollution in the winter season. Delhi is the first in the country to achieve this feat.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
