Pace of development in Delhi has not caused rise in pollution: Kejriwal

“When we speak about development in any urban area, it is assumed that the steps taken for development will certainly increase pollution in the area… In the last eight years, the pace at which developmental activities have taken place in Delhi has only increased, however, this has not caused the pollution levels to rise,” the CM said.

“There are two prominent types of pollutants – PM 2.5 and PM 10… If we look at the data for 2022 as compared to 2016, there has been a decline of 30% in both… In 2016, there were 26 days when pollutants in the air were so bad that Delhi had become a gas chamber; in 2022, we only had six days. Soon, we hope to reach such a stage where there will not even be one such day…,” he said.

He said that in 2016, there were 109 days where the air was categorised in the good/satisfactory/moderate categories while in 2022 there were 163.

Enumerating them, Kejriwal said the Delhi government has taken several measures over the years to combat air pollution such as the Pusa bio-decomposer, increasing the city’s green cover and real-time monitoring – followed by steps to reduce – pollution at hotspots.

“Our Delhi stands out because of the greenery and the green cover that we have maintained within the city. In 2013, Delhi had a tree cover of 20% but this has now been increased to 23%… Our tree transplantation policy also requires that at least 10 saplings are planted for every tree that may need to be uprooted,” he said.

“Real-time source apportionment of air pollution was not in use earlier, but now the Delhi government, along with IIT-Kanpur, has come up with this and this has helped us fight against pollution in a big way,” he said, adding that the government had been able to identify 13 pollution hotspots across the city and was in the process of finding individual solutions for each.

“On this auspicious occasion of World Environment Day, I urge everyone gathered here to take the pledge to clean the environment in Delhi. The participation of the people is also very crucial and the state government alone cannot clean Delhi. So, everyone needs to take part in it and only together will we be able to clean our beloved Delhi,” he said.