Find permanent cure for Delhi pollution, PMO tells 3 states

New Delhi: The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P K Mishra, on Monday asked the Delhi, Haryana and Punjab chief secretaries to look at ways to incentivise farmers to use crop residual management machines as well as find out solutions to end air pollution in the national capital.

Mishra made it clear to the state chief secretaries that stubble burning must be prevented as penalising the polluter does not help in reducing air pollution, reported Hindustan Times.

In a review meeting held for the second consecutive day, Mishra asked Haryana and Punjab to provide details of additional measures adopted to prevent fresh cases of stubble burning over the last 24 hours.

According to a NDTV report, Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh assured that he was personally monitoring the situation with the help of Deputy Commissioners of various districts. He also said that strict action was being taken against those violating the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act- 1981.

According to Haryana Chief Secretary Kesni Anand Arora, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has directed the authorities to ensure a clampdown on instances of stubble-burning.

Mishra asked the Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev to target major pollution sources such as road and soil dust, construction and demolition activities, biomass burning, vehicle emissions, industrial activity, and power production.  Dev said sprinkling of water has been intensified in the city with specific focus on "pollution hotspots", and those indulging in open dumping and burning of garbage were being fined to the maximum extent.

Among the other attending the meeting were Principal Advisor to the Prime Minister P K Sinha and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, besides top officials from the Agricultural Ministry, Central Pollution Control Board and the India Meteorological Department.