NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, which is going to great lengths to tom-tom its achievements and schemes with an eye on the next Assembly elections, has drawn another bragging point, courtesy a report on the status of industrial pollution in the national capital.
The report, tendered by the Delhi Dialogue Commission and made public by the AAP government on Thursday, states that 95 per cent of the city’s oil-driven industrial units have switched to CNG-operated systems.
The report credited the move by the Delhi government to ban use of petroleum, tyre oil and other polluting chemicals by all industrial units, with the exception of thermal power plants, for the dip in the pollution numbers.
It was a meeting between the Delhi government and the city’s industry captains that prompted the switch to CNG-powered operating systems, the report said.
“Due to the relentless effort by the Delhi government, air pollution in the city has gone down by 25 per cent over the last three years. There hasn’t been such a marked dip in air pollution levels anywhere else in the country. The switch to CNG-based operating systems helped the city’s industrial units reduce their pollution footprint,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.
The Kejriwal government had ordered the closure of the coal-based power plant at Rajghat in the face of a noticeable spike in pollution levels in May 2015.
Citing the move, the report said it went a long way in reducing air pollution in the city. The Badarpur power plant, which also runs on coal, was closed in October 2018.
Among other pollution control measures, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) also announced a compensation scheme for conversion of polluted chemical-powered industry to CNG in fiscal 2017-18.
As part of the scheme, Rs 50,000 was awarded as compensation to medium and small-scale industries and Rs 1 lakh to big ones.
“Figures have shown that industrial pollution contributes significantly to Delhi’s air pollution. Hence, our government moved to close or curb industries using pollution chemicals. Nine five per cent of our industries are now operating on CNG. We’re working on taking this figure to 100 per cent,” Environment Minister Kailash Gahlot said.