Centre to hold high-level meeting over pollution

The Union Environment Ministry will hold a high-level meeting on Monday over the alarming pollution levels in Delhi and nearby areas with top officials of the states in the region.

Environment Secretary CK Mishra will chair the meeting, which will be attended by chief secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Senior officials from the ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Power, and Agriculture will also be present in the meeting, an official spokesperson said on Sunday.

Among other agenda items related to tackling air pollution, the meeting is called for monitoring the measures that are currently underway, he said.

In view of the deteriorating air quality during the winter months, the meeting will also discuss the additional measures required to reduce the severity of pollution.

Officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs will also be present, who will put forth measures required for more effective traffic management, which is another factor aggravating the problem of air pollution, the spokesperson said.

The meeting will also be attended by municipal commissioners of the civic bodies in Delhi and district collectors of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida will also participate via video conference.

On Friday, several top officials, including those from the environment ministry, stayed away from a key meeting of a parliamentary panel to discuss the air pollution crisis in Delhi-NCR. Also, only four MPs of the 28-member panel attended it, leading to a major political row.

The national capital is battling alarming levels of air pollution for the past few weeks. The air quality deteriorated further in the last few days, forcing the authorities to shut schools for two days last week.