New Delhi: Expressing concern over the existing unprecedented smog over the capital, the Delhi government Wednesday decided to launch a special drive against polluting vehicles coming from other states, an official said.
The government’s move comes a day after the Supreme Court expressed concern on the thick blanket smog which had enveloped the capital causing breathing problem.
“In order to ensure that all the vehicles entering in Delhi strictly adhered to pollution norms in respect of vehicular air pollution, (state) transport department and police have been asked to launch a special drive for checking the emissions from them,” the official said.
According to officer, there is no increase in pollution load from sources of air emission in Delhi as compared to the previous years. Delhi has stringent air pollution norms, said the top official.
“The primary reasons are slow wind speed, low temperature and high humidity. These conditions appear to have led to high dust concentration and higher concentration of oxides of nitrogen as the pollutants are unable to disperse due to inversion phenomenon,” the official added.
Apart from this, burning of rice husk and straw in agricultural fields in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have also contributed to the haze, said the officer.
There are no polluting industries in Delhi as these have been shifted to National Capital Region (NCR) region.
The state environment department has decided to get a comprehensive source appointment study conducted for studying various air pollutants and their role in causing air pollution and suggesting various measures to improve the quality of air.
The study has been awarded to IIT Kanpur.
Meanwhile, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has established real-time air monitoring stations and the data is available in public domain.
However, it is not able to assess the air quality in respect of the neighbouring states as the pollution in Delhi is a result of various factors in the NCR.