Web India 123 , Thursday, June 15, 2017

Correspondent :

Noting that air pollution levels are continuously rising in the city due to multiple sources like open burning and construction activity, Environment minister Imran Hussain today said there is an urgent need for regulating and controlling air pollution from generating sources with the objective of maintaining the ambient air quality standards in respect of particulate matter.He was speaking at the inauguration of workshop on "Prohibition on Open Burning of any Kind of Material - A Small Step Targeting Big Impact" for the areas under jurisdiction of North MCD.The workshop which was attended by senior officials of Environment Department and experts and senior officers of North MCD, DPCC, Development Alternative (NGO) and TERI shared their experiences and suggested best practices to prevent burning in open and adopting alternate methods for disposing and managing wastes in environment friendly ways.Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hussain appreciated the initiative of Environment Department for organising a series of workshops for creating mass awareness about control of air pollution caused by open burning. In a first of the series, participants from North DMC were invited. Similar exercise will be carried out by Environment Department with other two Municipal Corporations as well in near future.''In this direction, National Green Tribunal (NGT) has also ordered complete ban on burning of any kind of garbage, leaves, waste plastic, rubber among others in open places in Delhi. It has also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each incident of open burning,'' he informed.Delegates in workshop discussed alternative disposal methods waste in order to avoid open burning in the City.Calling School/College children as the best messengers for spreading the awareness about the protection of environment, the Minister further observed that making rules alone cannot help in combating the menace of air pollution in the city. It was observed that there is an urgent and immediate need of large scale public participation.He also appreciated the efforts of RWAs who have been continuously contributing towards making colonies and their surroundings clean and green. Mr Hussain asked the participants to inform about incidents of open burning on DPCC's WhatsApp Helpline number 9717593574 and also at North DMC Helpline Nos. 1266 and 9643096430. He expressed the hope that workshop will help create effective awareness of the existing regulations and their strict compliance by the stakeholders, thereby improving the air pollution of the city to a great extent.He also showed keen interest in the various ways and means for composting and vermiform composing displayed at the workshop.Residents also shared their experiences on installation of composter provided by Development Alternative through a pilot project that had been funded by Department of Environment, GNCTD. Mr Hussain appreciated their initiative for growing more than 500 different kinds of plants including ornamental and medicinal plants and asked them to actively promote this initiative elsewhere also.

SOURCE : http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20170614/3125153.html