Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 18 (ANI): Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India Bhupender Yadav met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Friday to review air quality management efforts undertaken by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in the National Capital Region (NCR) areas of the state.
Speaking to the reporters after the meeting, Yadav congratulated the Uttar Pradesh government for its tree plantation efforts under the Prime Minister's 'Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam' campaign.
"I want to congratulate the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the way they've planted a huge number of trees across the state in recent years, and for achieving more tree planting than the target set," he said.
Highlighting the state's performance under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) he said, "Out of the 130 cities we surveyed for clean air under the NCAP, Lucknow took first place, and Agra and other cities in Uttar Pradesh also did really well."
Detailing the key issues discussed during the review, Yadav said the meeting covered air quality concerns across eight districts falling under the NCR in Uttar Pradesh, including Noida, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Bulandshahr.
"First, we looked into vehicle pollution and how to address old vehicles. We also reviewed the new EV policy for buses, and discussed the need for certificates and aggregator vehicles, along with more effective steps to tackle vehicle pollution," he said.
On industrial pollution, Yadav said significant progress had already been made. "We've seen that 80 per cent of the industries have already installed air pollution control devices. We're also working on reviewing the remaining industries," he said, adding that dust pollution was another key focus area, with an action plan discussed for mechanised and deep cleaning of roads.
Yadav further said the meeting also addressed the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules and the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, along with stakeholder consultations involving housing societies and the Environment Ministry.
He said similar review meetings had already been held with the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Delhi.
"This time, we met with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini ji, and we've also met with Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta ji. Today we had a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ji. We'd definitely like to move this forward by meeting with the governments and chief ministers of Punjab and Rajasthan as well," he said.
Yadav added that the Centre was also working with Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to address the issue of stubble burning ahead of the harvest season, in coordination with agriculture ministers from all concerned states.
He said a detailed, city-specific action plan had been prepared for all municipal corporations in the NCR region.
"Since last December, we've held over 30 meetings, and we've now started working on the city specific plans for each state. Recently, we also met with the heads of the panchayats, zila parishads, nagar palikas, and municipal corporations from the 63 smaller cities in the NCR," he said, adding that nodal officers had been directed to be appointed to oversee implementation at the local level.
He also expressed confidence that with public support and coordinated administrative efforts, significant progress was being made towards improving air quality in the region. (ANI)
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav meets CM Yogi Adityanath, reviews air quality management in UP's NCR districts
