New Delhi: In a decisive push to tighten pollution control across the capital, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has issued strict orders to penalise negligent government agencies, directing authorities to fill all potholes within 72 hours, issue challans to erring departments, and file FIRs against unauthorised road-cutting. She said the city’s worsening air quality demands an “emergency mission-level response”, announcing the formation of a high-powered expert committee to drive sustained pollution-control measures.
At a high-level inter-departmental review at the Delhi Secretariat, the Chief Minister assessed ongoing anti-pollution measures with the Environment Minister, Chief Secretary and senior officials from PWD, MCD, DDA, Delhi Metro, NBCC, DSIIDC, Power and DUSIB. She instructed departments to work on a war footing, stressing that “no agency, government or private, will be spared if found negligent.” She made it clear that departments showing laxity will face strict action, instructing the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to impose heavy penalties on bodies failing to maintain road, dust and cleanliness standards.
The CM also expressed strong displeasure over unattended potholes, directing all departments to identify and repair potholes within 72 hours and document them with before-and-after photographs. She also instructed DPCC to penalise government bodies failing in road maintenance or dust-control. PWD has been tasked with repairing potholes across its 1,400-km road network on priority. MCD has been instructed to make its 8,000-km network pothole-free and dust-free, deploying 1,000 vacuum-based litter pickers and 100 Mechanical Road Sweepers within 45 days. Delhi Metro, DDA and other agencies have been told to fix road stretches under their jurisdiction and implement dust-mitigation measures without delay.
Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the “311 Green App” is being upgraded for real-time monitoring of potholes, brown patches and dust hotspots. He added that mist-spraying for dust control has shown encouraging results and will now be expanded citywide.
Furthermpre, Rekha Gupta also announced the creation of a specialised expert committee comprising senior officials, IIT experts and environmental scientists. The committee will work continuously and be granted special powers to accelerate pollution-control initiatives across Delhi.