Delhi Pollution : Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday launched the 'Red Light On, Gaadi Off' campaign aimed at reducing vehicular pollution in the capital. Also, Grape-2 has been implemented due to rising pollution. It has been implemented with immediate effect from October 21. Gopal Rai has urged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to "not take revenge on the people of Delhi". In this campaign, which started from the ITO intersection in Delhi, volunteers held placards with motivational messages like 'War against pollution' and urged citizens to curb emissions by turning off the engines of their vehicles whenever they waited at the red light. At the inauguration of the program, the minister also distributed roses to autorickshaw drivers. Rai expressed concern over the rising pollution levels, especially the pollution that increases during the winter season, and stressed the need to control pollution immediately.

Reduction in incidents of stubble burning

He said pollution is constantly rising and it is unfortunate that the people of Delhi have to bear the brunt of not only pollution within the city but also from the neighboring states. With winter approaching, pollution levels are likely to rise further. He said Delhi has taken significant steps to reduce vehicular pollution and dust and neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana need to do more to curb stubble burning. The minister said while Punjab has seen a decline in stubble-burning incidents since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government came to power two years ago, such incidents have increased in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Rai said that I request the BJP-led governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to intensify their efforts to control pollution and reduce stubble burning. He urged the BJP to work with us and not take political revenge against the people of Delhi. Rai said that all buses in Delhi run on compressed natural gas (CNG), but there are buses of the Uttar Pradesh government at Anand Vihar bus stand which do not run on CNG.

Rai said the Delhi government is also conducting anti-dust campaigns. It is necessary to reduce pollution from all sources and today we are launching the 'Red Light On, Gaadi Off' campaign to reduce emissions from vehicles. I request everyone to switch off the engines of their vehicles at red lights to help control pollution, Rai said.