Minister Harsh Vardhan urges people to join fight against pollution

Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan

Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday launched an air quality early warning system for the capital and urged the people to participate in the fight against pollution.

"Along with the initiatives taken by the government, the participation of the society is an imperative," he said.

Calling the 41 teams of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) as the "eyes and ears" of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF and CC), the Minister said that these teams have been deployed in Delhi and NCR cities to monitor and supervise dust mitigation and other air pollution abatement measures to ensure effective compliance.

He also pointed to the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), started by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) to control air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.

Under the plan, prepared in 2017 on the directive of the Supreme Court in the wake of high pollution levels in the national capital in 2016, graded measures are implemented based on the air quality of the city.

The burning of paddy straw every year in October and November, and wheat straw during April in Punjab and Haryana are among the major contributors to air pollution in the region.

The Supreme Court-empowered EPCA is mandated to take steps to tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

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