Take concrete steps to curb dust pollution, experts say at townhall

NEW DELHI: Environmentalists on Sunday demanded a concrete solution to curb dust emanating from the roads and from construction and demolition activities, which they say is one of the major contributors of air pollution in the national capital.

The issue was discussed at length at the Air Pollution Townhall organised by Swechha, a Delhi based organization.

“Environment pollution is getting worse day-by-day. Instead of adopting short term measures, such as issuing challans and fining defaulters, the state and the Centre should come out with other stringent steps. They also need to understand that progress of any city is not judged on the basis of rampant infrastructure development ,” said Vimlendu Jha, executive director, Swechha.

Manju Menon, senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, stated, “The government thinks that the economy can grow with improvement in real estate . But this is not true,” she said.

Raghav Chadha, spokesperson, Aam Aadmi Party, said air pollution is not a Delhi-centric issue. “Still we have done more than any other state. We have conducted the largest plantation drive last September, brought out a green budget and have worked alongside EPCA and followed their directions,” said Chadha. Vijay Dhasmana, environmentalist and curator Aravali Biodiversity Park said that 45,000 square kilometres of forests have been diverted for development in Delhi NCR or lost to encroachments.