IIT Kanpur experts give presentation on artificial rain at 'Environmental Expert Meet' in Delhi

New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) Delhi government on Tuesday organised ‘Environmental Experts Meet’ regarding Winter Action Plan with national and global experts at Delhi secretariat under the chairmanship of Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai to improve the environment.

Officers and representatives of DPCC, Environment Department, UNEP, CSE, C40, EPIC India, Clean Air Asia, IIT Kanpur etc participated in the 'Environmental Expert Meet.'

"It is very satisfactory that the number of severe days during winter has reduced from 33 to 6, but given how to reduce it further; the suggestion of artificial rain was made. Experts of IIT Kanpur presented a presentation on the matter of artificial rain, this includes all the facets of the technology such implementation, financial burden etc. Instructions have been given to Kanpur IIT to prepare a detailed presentation keeping in mind all the aspects of artificial rain in Delhi, which will be presented to Kejriwal," Rai said.

He said that separate action plans will be made for 13 hotspots to reduce pollution and improve air quality.

“Experts have also advised that separate action plans should be made at all these hot spots to reduce pollution. Separate Winter Action Plan will help in tackling the issues comprehensively because they have different causes of pollution.”

He said that the BioMass burning is one of the major causes of pollution in the capital city as per report by Real Time Apportionment Studies.

“The stubble burning takes place within 15 days, and Delhi Government is working towards the coordination with the neighboring states on the matter. The Local biomass burning needs sincere attention and we will conduct a meeting with local security guard companies, because it's been noticed that during winters security guards stoke bonfires.”

He said that the DPCC (Delhi Pollution Control Committee) team will continuously monitor the hotspot.

“In the last 9 years there has been a 42 percent reduction in PM 10 and 46 percent reductions in PM 2.5. Every year our government launches summer and winter action plans to deal with pollution during summer and winter seasons.”

He said that the suggestions given by experts in the will be included in the winter action plan.

“Mainly 24 experts participated in this Meet. Such as CSE, SSEE (Sustainable Social Environmental Enterprise), IIT Kanpur, CSTEP (Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy), WRI India (World Resources Institute), A-PAG, Clean Air Asia, ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation), UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), NITI Aayog, EPIC India, CEEW (Council on Environment, Energy, and Water) etc.”

He said that these organisations have mainly expressed their views and given their advice on the main topics of vehicle and dust pollution, hotspots, development of green areas, burning of stubble and garbage, communication with the central government and neighboring states etc.

“On September 14, it has been decided to hold a joint meeting with all 28 of these departments. Based on the key points outlined in the Winter Action Plan, specific responsibilities will be given to various departments during the meeting.”