NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel meeting on combating air pollution in Delhi-National Capital Region went on for over two hours which was attended by most of the parliamentarians, including BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, on Wednesday.
Stubble burning, industrial and vehicular pollution and dust pollution due to construction were discussed during the meeting, sources said. AAP leader Sanjay Singh asserted that stubble burning is the main reason behind the alarming level of pollution in Delhi-NCR.
He also spoke about the unavailability of adequate machines to handle the problems caused by stubble, a source said. Jagdambika Pal, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, chaired the meeting which was attended by 23 MPs, including BJP’s Gambhir, Hema Malini and MJ Akbar, and Congress’ Digvijaya Singh.
Senior officials from various departments, including municipal commissioners, secretary urban affairs and others, attended the meeting.
The sources said urban affairs officials discussed pollution caused by industrial units and vehicles in the city. The stakeholders also discussed Gazipur and other landfill sites in Delhi and the ways to handle the situation.
The committee has asked various departments to draw up a detailed action plan. Earlier, during the standing committee meeting last week, a large number of MPs and government officials were absent and the meeting was postponed without much discussion. Gambhir, in particular, had drawn flak from the public.
(THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS)