Appealing to Delhi residents to come together and join 'Yuddh Pradushan Ke Virrudh' campaign, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday said small steps like turning off the engine at traffic signals and using public transport for at least one day every month can make the city "healthy" and "pollution free".
Mr Sisodia said this during the one-day neighbourhood Raahgiri programme organised by the Delhi government's Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) in association with Raahgiri Foundation under the theme of anti-pollution campaign 'Yuddh Pradushan Ke Virrudh' to spread awareness about pollution in Patparganj Vidhan Sabha.
"It is our collective duty to reduce pollution by coming forward at an individual and community level. To make Delhi pollution free, every citizen has to take their share of responsibility to reduce pollution," Mr Sisodia was quoted as saying in a statement quoting .
"We can lay the foundation of a healthy Delhi by reducing our share of pollution by taking small steps like turning off the engine at traffic signals and switching to public transport. Every citizen should use public transport at least for one day every month, walk or cycle as their contribution to reducing pollution," he added.
According to Mr Sisodia, one needs to work at multiple levels to reduce pollution in Delhi.
While it is the responsibility of the government to make rules and regulations for the prevention of pollution, "make strict systems to facilitate enforcement, conduct awareness campaigns and take action against those who violate them"; it is our "collective duty to come forward and reduce pollution at an individual and community level".
"Industry and construction stakeholders should reduce their share of pollution. It should be considered that at a construction site, there is the least amount of dust flying. Further, smog guns should be installed on major construction sites and water should be continuously sprinkled. Industry should also move towards the latest sources of renewable energy to reduce its share of pollution," he noted.
The Raahgiri event held from 7 am to 10 am at Patparganj -- where stretch between BSES Yamuna Power Limited Office and Sarvodaya Kanya/Bal Vidyalaya in West Vinod Nagar were opened to the public completely free of vehicular traffic -- saw thousands of schoolchildren and people participating in several activities, including walking, cycling, skating, performing arts, yoga, aerobics and zumba.
Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Sirsa has accused Arvind Kejriwal's AAP - in power before the BJP won the February election - of allowing more than 1.08 lakh vehicles to run on city roads despite each emitting high levels of carbon monoxide.
An integrated command and control centre has been proposed in the 2025-26 Delhi budget, presented by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday, for real-time monitoring of air quality, water pollution, noise levels, and waste management.
As part of broader strategy to tackle the expected winter pollution peak, the Delhi government will install six new air quality monitoring stations across the national capital over the next three months, Environment Minister said.
Delhi remained India's most polluted megacity by a wide margin during the 2024-25 winter, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 175 micrograms per cubic metre, according to an analysis released on Tuesday.
A small city on the Meghalaya-Assam border, nearly 2,000 kilometres away from Delhi, is the most polluted in the world, according to a report published by a global pollution watchdog.
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