Delhi govt's 'Green War Room' starts 24x7 monitoring of air pollution in city

The Delhi government's control centre to monitor air pollution and redress complaints -- 'Green War Room' -- started functioning round-the-clock with a larger team of analysts and experts from Tuesday, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said.

Launched in 2020, the Green War Room has state-of-the-art air quality monitoring equipment and a team of experts, including scientists and data analysts, which keeps an eye on all sources contributing to Delhi's air pollution and helps the city administration implement its action plan. Talking to reporters here, Rai said people can report air pollution-related complaints to the Green War Room through the Green Delhi mobile application.

The war room team then forwards these complaints to the relevant department for resolution, he said.

The Green War Room now includes 17 experts, compared to nine last year, and will be led by environmental scientist Nandita Moitra, the minister said.

Though the Green War Room functions round-the-year, the 24X7 monitoring started Tuesday onwards, an official said.

The Delhi government on Friday launched a 15-point action plan to mitigate air pollution in the capital during the winter season, with a strong emphasis on addressing dust pollution, vehicular emissions and the open burning of garbage.

During a press conference, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that separate and specific action plans have been designed for each of the 13 air pollution hotspots in Delhi based on real-time data collected from 40 air quality monitoring stations in the capital.

Kejriwal said the winter action plan primarily focuses on preventing crop residue burning, dust pollution, vehicular and industrial emissions, open burning of garbage, regulating firecrackers, tree planting, ensuring effective implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan, managing e-waste and fostering collaboration with neighbouring states.

Rai had earlier warned of stern action against project proponents at large construction and demolition sites flouting dust control norms.

He had also announced a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and bursting of firecrackers in the city.