Arvind Kejriwal to launch mega anti-air pollution campaign on October 5

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will launch a mega anti-air pollution campaign on Monday following a meeting with departments concerned.

Rai said the chief minister will chair the crucial meeting at 11 am on Monday.

"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will launch a mega anti-air pollution campaign after a meeting with officials from departments of environment, transport, development, PWD, Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Jal Board, traffic police and municipal corporations," he tweeted.

At a meeting of NCR states with Union Environment Prakash Javadekar recently, Rai asked the Centre to take time-bound action to ensure that 11 thermal power plants and more than 1,900 brick kilns using outdated technology in the national capital region control their emissions.

There are 11 plants around Delhi -- in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab -- which were supposed to retrofit their units with a technology called flue-gas desulphurisation to reduce emissions by December 2019.

Rai said there are more than 1,640 such brick kilns in Uttar Pradesh, 161 in Haryana, and 164 Rajasthan.

"All these contribute to Delhi's air pollution massively," he said.

The minister said the Delhi government presented its plan to tackle stubble burning in the city during the meeting with Javadekar.

He said a center is being set up in Kharkhari village in Najafgarh where "bio-decomposer" solution will be prepared in around 400 containers starting Tuesday.

The new technology involves a liquid formulation prepared using bio-decomposer capsules, fermenting it over 8-10 days and then spraying the mixture on crop residue to ensure speedy bio-decomposition of the stubble.

Capsules worth Rs 20 can effectively deal with 4-5 tonnes of raw straw per acre.