New Delhi: With Delhi once again grappling with deteriorating air quality, the city government on Friday announced a series of long-term measures aimed at tackling pollution, beginning with steps to protect children in government schools. Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat, Urban Development and Home Minister Ashish Sood said tenders have been issued for installing air purifiers in 10,000 classrooms, calling children’s health the government’s immediate priority.
“Pollution should not affect the health or education of our children. Today, we have issued tenders for installing air purifiers in 10,000 classrooms in the first phase,” Sood said, adding that the facility would eventually be extended to all government schools in Delhi. He described the initiative as part of a broader shift away from short-term responses towards sustained administrative reforms.
Turning to waste management, Sood said the government has set September 2026 as the deadline for the complete remediation of the Bhalswa landfill. A tender has already been floated for the disposal of 18 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste. “The Bhalswa landfill will be cleared by September 2026. This work is already underway,” he said. He also highlighted the commissioning of biogas and waste-to-gas plants at Nangli Sakrawati and Ghoga dairies for the scientific disposal of dairy waste.
Sood used the occasion to mount a sharp attack on the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, alleging that Delhi’s pollution crisis was the result of years of policy failures rather than a seasonal phenomenon. “Pollution in Delhi is not a seasonal issue, nor is it something that emerged in the last 10 months. It is the cumulative outcome of years of administrative negligence,” he said.
Citing a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, Sood alleged that during 2017–18, nearly 30 per cent of AQI monitoring stations were installed in green areas, leading to misleading data. “They did not want to clear the air, they wanted to clear the statistics,” he said, claiming that the location of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System stations did not meet CPCB norms, rendering AQI data unreliable.
He dismissed initiatives such as the odd-even scheme and the ‘Red Light On, Vehicle Off’ campaign as publicity-driven. “The National Green Tribunal reprimanded them for odd-even. Even the courts questioned its scientific basis,” Sood said, adding that the Supreme Court had noted that funds were available for advertisements but not for crucial public transport projects like the RRTS.
On transport and municipal reforms, Sood said Rs.175 crore has been released to the Municipal Corporation, with an additional Rs.500 crore under process. Mechanical sweeping machines will be provided to ensure “one machine in every Assembly constituency” to control dust pollution. He also said the Rs.45 crore EV subsidy, previously withheld, has been cleared and bottlenecks in Metro Phase-IV and RRTS projects are being addressed.
Acknowledging external factors, Sood said a significant portion of Delhi’s pollution originates from neighbouring states. “We do not control the weather, but strong local interventions can significantly reduce the impact,” he said, reiterating that the government is focused on long-term solutions rather than “PR activities”.