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50th World Environment Day: On the occasion of World Environment Day, on Monday (May 5), an environmental conference was organized by the Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Delhi, at Tyagraj Stadium. CM Arvind Kejriwal also participated as the chief guest on this occasion. While addressing the Environment Conference, CM Arvind Kejriwal said that we are celebrating 50th World Environment Day. It was initiated by the UN General Assembly in 1972. Then it must have seemed that pollution is increasing a lot in the world. This needs to stop.
CM said that whenever we talk about development, it is believed that there will be pollution along with development. If there is development, trees will be cut, dust and soil will fly, construction will happen. We have been celebrating World Environment Day for 50 years, but in these years the pollution inside the whole world has increased instead of decreasing. In India too, if we look at any city, town or village, pollution has increased everywhere. But the pollution inside Delhi has decreased in the whole country.
He said that in the last 8 years the pace of development inside Delhi has not decreased. The development is happening at a very fast pace. Schools, hospitals, roads, flyovers are all being built, but instead of increasing the pollution has decreased. Together with two crore people of Delhi, we have not allowed the pace of development to slow down and have also reduced pollution.
30 percent less stubble burning
CM Arvind Kejriwal told through statistics that in 2022 there has been a decrease of 30 percent in PM-2.5 and PM-10 as compared to 2016. We see that pollution has become pollution in the whole sky and it becomes difficult to breathe. There were 26 days in 2016 when Delhi had become a gas chamber and it was difficult to breathe. But there were only 6 days in 2022 when the pollution level in Delhi was bad. It is a matter of little time. I have full hope that the people of Delhi together will end these 6 days of pollution and not a single day will go bad in the coming years.
There were 109 days in 2016, which were very good. There was no pollution and the sky was absolutely clear. Whereas in 2022 there were 163 days which were very good. Every day should be clean, take yourself towards this direction.
He said that we have fought ‘war against pollution’ slogan was given. This is not just a slogan, but under this we have done a lot of work to stop pollution. For example, we hear that burning of stubble causes pollution. The Delhi Government along with Pusa Institute invented a solution and now almost all the farmers of Delhi do not burn the stubble, but destroy the stubble by spraying the solution. That’s why there is no smoke from stubble burning in Delhi.
Farming is done in about 5 thousand acres of area in Delhi. Smoke used to come from Punjab. Last year, the Punjab government took several steps to solve the stubble and the smoke from the stubble reduced by 30 percent. We are constantly in touch with the Punjab government. We hope that this year the smoke of the stubble will be reduced even more. It may take some time for the process of stubble burning to end completely. The Punjab government is taking several steps to prevent stubble burning.
Trees are our heritage, how will we let it get spoiled – CM
Kejriwal said that I roam all over the country. I go to all the big cities but maximum greenery is visible inside Delhi. Delhi is a very green city. Trees are decreasing inside every city in the whole country. Development is going on in every city, roads and buildings are being built. Trees are being cut for this. That’s why trees are decreasing.
Delhi is the only city, where the number of trees is increasing. In 2013, there were trees on 20 percent of the total area of Delhi and today (2023) the tree cover (number of trees) has increased to 23 percent instead of less than 20 percent. The reason for this is that we plant a large number of trees.
This time also the Delhi government along with the people of Delhi has set a target of planting 52 lakh saplings all over Delhi. Often we see that trees are planted in government programs. Later no one paid attention to it and the tree died in ten days. We also see how to increase the survival rate of plants. For example, trees will have to be cut to make a new road. That’s why we have made a tree transplantation policy. So that there is no need to cut the big tree. That tree is taken out along with the root and planted at another place.
This technique is being used tremendously in Delhi. We changed our policy and said that for cutting one tree, 10 new saplings have to be planted. Along with this, the tree has to be picked up from the root and planted somewhere else from the project site. Many trees are two to four hundred years old. Such trees are our heritage. How can we let these trees go to waste.
Efforts to reduce polluting factors
CM Kejriwal said that there was a lot of pollution due to the fuel used earlier in the industries inside Delhi. We eliminated polluted fuel from industries. Now PNG is used in industries. In this way industrial pollution in Delhi has also ended. Together with IIT Kanpur, we have invented new technology in Delhi.
For example, I am going on a road and I feel that there is a lot of pollution there. Despite being the Chief Minister, I do not know what is the reason for this pollution. Is it pollution of soil, transport, industry or stubble or where is it coming from. If I come to know that Delhi is getting polluted due to these reasons, then I can reduce that activity. This is called real time source apportionment. With this technique, the government can come to know that due to which pollution is happening at a particular place at a given time. Till now this technology was not available anywhere.
IIT Kanpur invented this technique at the behest of Delhi government. Now we are getting to know that due to which there is pollution at a particular place at a certain time. With the help of real time source apportionment, we came to know that there is pollution due to stubble for one month during winter and pollution occurs due to burning of fire at various places in winter. In summer, pollution occurs due to dust, burning of garbage mountains, burning of bushes. Now we are getting to know the cause of pollution and by specifically targeting those things, we are able to reduce pollution. We have benefited a lot from this.
In addition, there are hotspot areas. Some areas inside Delhi have maximum pollution. A list has been made of 13 areas in Delhi, where pollution is maximum. We have paid more attention to such areas and are trying to reduce the pollution causing factors.
Green App for campaign against crackers
CM Arvind Kejriwal said that pollution is also happening because of the soil. We see that the road is broken and there is mud beside it. In the morning, there is soil due to sweeping, trucks leaving. To end the pollution caused by soil, we are starting a big campaign to clean Delhi. We will do vacuum cleaning of all the roads of Delhi with mechanical sweepers so that dust does not blow. Every week all the roads of Delhi will be cleaned with water. So that the dust flying stops. When this is done, Delhi’s roads will also be like European standard roads.
The Delhi government along with the people started a campaign against firecrackers. We have created Green App. Anyone can complain about pollution happening anywhere in Delhi on this app. So far 58 thousand complaints have come in this. Of these, 90 percent complaints have been redressed.
380 lakes are being built across Delhi
CM said that we are making 380 lakes in the whole of Delhi. In the coming times, Delhi will be called the city of lakes. Beautiful lakes will be seen at different places in Delhi. So far 26 lakes have been completed. I have come after seeing the lakes. There is a lot of greenery, beautiful environment and pure air. Birds have started coming to the lakes from far and wide. The water level on Dwarka lake has come up five meters. Now there will be no water problem because we can use ground water for drinking purpose.
The atmosphere, air will be good from the lakes and we will also get drinking water. The wind does not know Delhi, Haryana, Punjab. There is a lot of pollution in Delhi from the surrounding states as well. We constantly hold talks with NCR states. There are brick kilns, power plants in the surrounding states, we are trying to stop the pollution coming from them.
CM takes pledge on World Environment Day
CM Arvind Kejriwal called upon the people of Delhi and said that come, let us take a pledge on World Environment Day that together we will make it a mass movement to clean the air and water of Delhi. This will not happen with the government alone. Everyone will have to take responsibility and become a participant in the mass movement. On the other hand, Delhi’s Environment and Forest Minister Gopal Rai said that today the whole world is celebrating World Environment Day, which has only one objective to improve the environment.
There used to be a lot of pollution inside Delhi too, but under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it has been resolved to make Delhi free from pollution. Today, with the cooperation of the people of Delhi, the government has been successful in reducing pollution by more than 30 percent in the last 8 years. But we have to reduce it further and with this goal our government has organized an environmental conference today on the occasion of World Environment Day. This year our government has set a target of planting 52 lakh saplings.
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