New Delhi: Stepping up its anti-pollution strategy ahead of the winter peak, the Delhi government on Saturday announced the creation of three committees that will guide, implement and innovate new measures to tackle the Capital’s air-quality crisis. Officials said the move is aimed at bringing scientific expertise, tighter coordination and technology-led solutions into the government’s fight against worsening pollution levels.
The announcement follows Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s earlier declaration that an expert panel would be constituted to advise the government. Environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Saturday detailed the structure and roles of the three newly formed bodies.
The first, an 11-member expert group chaired by former Union environment secretary Leena Nanda, will frame policy recommendations for preventing and reducing air pollution. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) chairperson will serve as the member secretary, while the panel will also include specialists such as former CPCB official JS Kamyotra, IIT Delhi professor Mukesh Khare, IIT Kanpur professor Mukesh Sharma, TERI’s circular economy director Suneel Pandey, and representatives from the CAQM, IMD and the state environment department. Sirsa described the panel as a “think tank” that will provide scientific direction to the government.
Parallel to this, a 16-member implementation committee headed by the Delhi chief secretary will oversee on-ground execution. The group is tasked with enforcing action plans issued by the government, courts and statutory bodies, ensuring compliance and monitoring departments responsible for pollution control. Sirsa said the expert group and the implementation committee would function in synergy, “one as the brain and the other as the arm.”
A third panel, created under the Government’s Innovation Challenge 2025, will evaluate technological interventions proposed to reduce pollution. Led by IIT Delhi professor Sagnik Dey, this group will shortlist feasible solutions from 278 ideas submitted by researchers, start-ups and innovators.
In the review meeting, the DPCC briefed Sirsa on recent enforcement activity, including inspections at 1,756 construction sites, issuance of 556 notices and penalties amounting to Rs.7 crore. Government agencies were fined Rs.1 crore for violations. Sirsa directed district magistrates and commissioners to survey industrial units and non-compliant generators within seven days and ordered all BS-IV and older generators to be retrofitted with anti-pollution devices.
He added that Delhi would soon sign an MoU with IIT Delhi and IITM Pune to conduct a detailed source apportionment study, strengthening the city’s scientific approach to air-quality management.