Govt aims to cut air pollution in NCR by 15-20% within a year, says Environment Minister

The issue, Yadav said, affects everyone and the Union Environment Ministry is taking efforts to implement short-term and long-term solutions — from fixing traffic congestion

hotspots to controlling industrial pollution and transitioning to electric vehicles. He listed vehicular pollution, industrial pollution, dust and solid waste as the key sources of pollution.  Responding to questions on the health impacts of air pollution,

Yadav said, “I accept the issue with full responsibility and I want to say with full sensitivity that there is no day that we are not taking a follow-up. We are a regulatory ministry but we are following up with stakeholder ministries and local bodies and we will get full support and we will find solutions.”

Yadav said that though the concentration of pollution is not satisfactory, there has been a marginal improvement. “In 2022, the concentration of PM 2.5 was 98 and in 2025 it is 97. As for PM 10, it was 211 in 2022 and 198 in 2025,” he said.

In 2022, Delhi’s average air quality index (AQI), which is a measure of the 24-hour average of major pollutants, was 209 and in 2025 it was 201, as per Central Pollution Control Board data.

Elaborating on the steps against air pollution in Delhi-NCR and its sources, the Union Minister said the Supreme Court’s order on older vehicles will help improve the situation. He said Bharat Stage-I compliant vehicles emit 31 times more compared to BS-IV and BS-VI vehicles and there are 1,12,000 vehicles of older vintage. The minister also said that by next year, the entire fleet of public transport buses in Delhi will likely transition to electric.

On industrial pollution, the Centre will soon issue closure orders against non-compliant and unregulated industries, he said. “Out of 3,500 industries, about 1,200 have installed online emission monitoring systems and all the remaining ones will have it installed this year. As for unregulated industries, we will take strict action and issue closure orders. On waste too, there has been reform and we are following up on time-bound remediation of legacy waste,” Yadav said.

Citing recent meetings with the Delhi Chief Minister and local bodies of NCR cities and towns, Yadav said the Centre is overseeing the preparation of comprehensive annual plans with focused targets to address pollution sources.