Anti-Pollution Protesters Meet Minister, Discuss How To Improve Delhi's Air

After weeks of parents, students and residents taking to the streets over Delhi's choking air, the city government on Wednesday finally opened its doors to those leading the protest. Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa met citizen groups, environmentalists and volunteers at the Delhi Secretariat in what many attendees described as an overdue but welcome conversation.

Sirsa said the government wanted to hear directly from people who have been documenting pollution hotspots and flagging enforcement failures.

"We invited residents who actively work to keep the city clean and improve the air. We heard their suggestions and tried to understand what practical steps can be taken," he said during the meeting.

Minister Acknowledged Gaps On Ground

Sirsa admitted that "proper enforcement and coordination are still lacking" and acknowledged that bylaws and restrictions often remain only on paper. Sirsa sought citizen help in monitoring violations, especially construction dust and open burning, two issues repeatedly raised in recent weeks.

"We Live This Every Day"

Among those at the table was environmentalist Bhavreen Kandhari, part of the ongoing citizen-led movement that has seen mothers, teenagers and young children protesting across the capital.

"We appreciate that the minister reached out to mothers, citizens and students... and acknowledged that the same polluted air affecting us is affecting his own and everyone who is breathing," she told NDTV.

Kandhari underlined that people protesting are not activists by profession.

"We are different from civil society organisations. As ordinary citizens, we live the ground realities every day and can be a source of strength and insight for policymaking and enforcement," she said, also issuing a blunt reminder: "We have seen decades of meetings and roundtables yielding little or no results." Still, she said, citizens have come forward again "for the sake of all our children."

Open Burning, Weak Bylaws, Zero Coordination: Citizens List Failures

The attendees flagged the recurring gaps: unchecked open burning, bylaw violations, and agencies failing to act in sync, also calling for stronger citizen participation, including enhanced grievance mechanisms via the Sameer and Green Delhi apps, expanded volunteer networks, carpooling promotion, and ongoing public awareness campaigns.

The government, in response, said that many of these issues "are being examined for solutions" and said citizen-driven reporting and third-party monitoring would now be incorporated into its action plan.

Officials also informed that the government has already intensified ground-level action, including increased deployment of Mechanical Road Sweepers, litter pickers, and Anti-Smog Guns, along with daily water spraying and mechanical sweeping in high-dust zones. They said procurement of new sweepers and anti-smog equipment is underway to broaden coverage across the city.

Sirsa also said the government is running strict enforcement drives against C&D waste violations and continuing a crackdown on biomass and open waste burning, which officials described as one of the more stubborn contributors to winter pollution.

What's next?

While the government has said citizen inputs will feed into its pollution-control measures, no detailed plan or timeline was shared. For now, protestors say the meeting is a start, one that must translate into real inspections, real penalties and real change.

As one attendee put it after the discussion:

"The government finally called us inside. Now we'll see if they actually step outside and fix what's happening on the ground."