New Delhi: As the smog season approaches, the Delhi Government has introduced a comprehensive, year-round strategy to combat the capital’s air pollution, with a strong focus on technology-based solutions, enhanced citizen participation, and stricter enforcement measures to address the challenges of the upcoming winter months.
Earlier this week, Delhi’s Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa presided over a high-level coordination meeting with 30 key stakeholder agencies, including the DDA, MCD, DPCC, DJB, PWD, CPWD, Delhi Police, NCRTC, NHAI, DMRC, among others. The review meeting assessed progress on ongoing projects and issued directives for the Winter 2025 Air Pollution Control Action Plan, ensuring that the entire framework is fully prepared to confront the peak pollution phase from October to February, which is historically the worst for the capital.
The meeting agenda revolved around 17 crucial action points. These covered a wide range of strategies such as dust suppression through mist sprayers and water sprinklers, strict control of pollution at construction and demolition (C&D) sites, exploring cloud seeding projects to prevent smog buildup, curbing open burning and stubble burning, enforcing pollution controls on industries, deploying anti-smog guns, involving RWAs in roadside greening drives, and fast-tracking bio-mining at landfill sites. Departments were further instructed to guarantee uninterrupted electricity supply to cut reliance on diesel generators, strengthen measures against landfill fires, and form specialized enforcement squads for ground-level monitoring.
Highlighting the significance of collective action, Sirsa underlined that widespread public awareness and citizen involvement would be at the heart of every initiative. He said that outreach programs, mass awareness drives, community campaigns, and educational activities are being scaled up to involve the maximum number of residents in the mission to cut pollution.
The minister also directed officials to reinforce Delhi’s green war rooms, improve grievance redressal systems, and upgrade digital apps to ensure quicker citizen feedback and real-time monitoring. “Our administration is determined to lead a continuous and proactive fight against air pollution, harnessing modern technology like anti-smog guns, sprinklers, and web-based tracking systems to make sure every corner of Delhi breathes cleaner air,” Sirsa stated.
He further instructed agencies to speed up road maintenance work, streamline C&D waste collection and transportation, intensify landfill bio-mining, expand roadside plantation, and scale up mechanized sweeping operations. Departments were asked to achieve all installation and operational targets before the October deadline without delay.
Sirsa also announced that he will personally visit Delhi’s three major landfill sites in the coming weeks to inspect bio-mining progress and hold agencies accountable. “Citizen involvement is crucial for our success; with more robust awareness campaigns and efficient complaint mechanisms, we are enabling people to become active participants in this year-long movement for a cleaner and healthier Delhi,” he added.
Reaffirming its stand, the Delhi Government reiterated that sustainable, technology-led interventions combined with joint action by agencies and citizens remain the only effective path toward securing long-term relief from the capital’s recurring air pollution crisis.
