More machines to sweep 2,200 km of Delhi roads daily

Number of sprinklers also increased

File photo of a road in Delhi

The Delhi government and other agencies have planned to increase the average length of road swept every day by mechanical sweepers and the number of water sprinklers this winter, compared to last year, an official told The Hindu .

Also, as part of the action plan, more teams will be involved in implementing different measures to control air pollution this winter.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that an eco-park is being built to process e-waste, however, the project is yet to be approved and is expected to be completed only by mid-2023, officials said.

“The country’s first e-waste eco-park is being built in Delhi on 20 acres. We are setting this up to curb pollution caused by e-waste,” the Chief Minister’s office said in a statement.

The eco-park is part of a Central government policy and is to be done in other parts of the country as well.

Increased length

The government plans to increase the average length of road swept per day by mechanical sweepers to 2,200 km this winter compared to 1,895 km last year. For this purpose, the number of mechanical road sweepers (MRS) machines is planned to be increased to 69 from 58 last winter.

Similarly, the number of water sprinklers is to be increased to 372 from 328.

The air pollution in the city spikes during the winter, chiefly due to a combined effect of stubble burning in the neighbouring States and climatic conditions, which lowers wind speed and mixing height and in turn traps pollutants. The use of sprinklers and MRS machines peaks during the winter in the city and falls after February, as per government data. Both these measures are aimed at reducing road dust, which is one of the major local air pollutants in the city.

“The main difference in the winter action plan compared to last year is that we are forming more teams to enforce the rules. We hope that this will make a difference,” the official said.

Seventy-five teams have been formed to curb dust pollution at construction sites and 250 teams will monitor garbage burning during winter. These teams will be made of officials from different departments of the Delhi government.