Severe AQI: Delhi, neighbouring states to draft plan to tackle road dust pollution
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has directed Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana to draft a three-year action plan to combat dust pollution from roads and open areas by the end of February. The plan will prioritize urban and industrial areas and include measures such as end-to-end greening, paving of roads, pedestrian and cyclist pavements, and micro-surfacing.
This directive comes as Delhi continues to experience poor air quality year-round. Road dust contributes up to 58% of PM10 levels and 15-34% of PM2.5 levels, depending on the season. Also read | India plans stricter quality standards to tackle air pollution CAQM has issued a guidance document to the chief secretaries of the four states.
"We have asked them to come up with an action plan based on the standard framework that we have developed based on the recommendation by a committee headed by CRRI (Central Road Research Institute) director M. Parida," a senior official of CAQM told Mint. "This will include end-to-end greening and paving of roads, laying of roads and micro surfacing, new roads where there are no roads, pavement for pedestrian and cyclists wherever there is space, beginning from 2025-26," the official added.
It will also include the development of a road asset management system with a digital inventory of street-level data. This system will allow timely maintenance and better management of roads to minimize dust. "The whole idea is to reduce dust to maximum, knowing that dust is one of the major contributors to air pollution in Delhi and neighbouring states," the CAQM official added.
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