New Delhi [India], September 4 (ANI): Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav today reviewed the comprehensive plans submitted by NCR states, focusing on stakeholder engagement and behavioural change communication to tackle air pollution.
The Minister has conducted more than 25 meetings over the past year to review individual air quality management plans of municipal bodies in the NCR and the actions taken by them to achieve targets.
This resulted in the crystallisation of individual state action plans, encompassing a range of on-ground activities to tackle identified sources of air pollution, alongside the stakeholder engagement plan reviewed today.
Welcoming the detailed action plans prepared by the NCR state governments to ensure citizen participation in tackling air pollution, the Minister highlighted specific initiatives undertaken by the states and urged others to adopt and replicate best practices.
Yadav laid special emphasis on strengthening IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) activities and behavioural change communication by taking the campaign to the grassroots level and involving all stakeholders.
In his interaction with the NCR state governments, the Minister stressed that coordinated and focused stakeholder engagement is essential to make air pollution control efforts more effective. He reviewed the IEC activities proposed by different states and emphasised that these should be executed in a coordinated manner for greater outreach and impact.
Yadav proposed that the Union Ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Urban Development hold meetings with their respective state counterparts to devise joint strategies for addressing air pollution. He further emphasised that State Pollution Control Boards must focus on identified air pollution hotspots and prepare practical, effective action plans for mitigation.
During his interaction with state authorities, the Minister stressed that "non-conforming polluting industries must be dealt with firmly, following a 'Zero-Tolerance' policy."
He also underlined the need to fix responsibility for violations and defaults, suggesting that publicising non-conforming stakeholders be adopted as a measure to ensure greater accountability and compliance.
The Minister emphasised that IEC activities alone will not be sufficient, and that effective implementation and enforcement remain critical to tackling air pollution. He informed officials that a review meeting at the Union Minister level will be held in September to assess the progress of initiatives and actions taken by the concerned states. He reassured the NCR state governments that the Government of India would extend full support to their air quality management efforts.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary (MoEFCC), Chairman of the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), and other senior officers from the MoEFCC and CAQM. State government representatives included Environment Ministers and Secretaries, as well as the Chairpersons and Member Secretaries of the Pollution Control Boards of Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, along with the Agriculture Minister, Agriculture Secretary, and Environment Secretary of Punjab, and the Additional Chief Secretary and Environment Secretary of Rajasthan. (ANI)
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav reviews Coordinated Efforts by NCR States to tackle Air Pollution
