Delhi: Environment Secy CK Mishra to hold high-level meet on air pollution on Nov 18

The Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, CK Mishra will be holding a high-level meeting on air pollution on Monday, November 18. This comes amidst the worsening air quality (AQI) in the NCR and other cities and towns in India. The meeting will be attended by Chief Secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Senior officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Power and Ministry of Agriculture will also be present in the meeting. 

Agenda of the meeting 

Amongst other things, the main agenda of the meeting will be to monitor the measures that have been implied by the government in the country. The meeting will also see the discussions related to tackling several other issues caused by air pollution. As the winter season is at our doorsteps, the meeting will also discuss the additional measures required to reduce the severity of air pollution. 

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Attendees of the meeting 

The officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs will also be attending the meeting. They are likely to put forth measures required for more effective traffic management, which is another factor aggravating the problem of air pollution. The meeting will also be attended by municipal commissioners of NDMC, SDMC, EDMC, etc. District Collectors of Faridabad, Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Greater Noida will also participate via video conferencing. 

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Gautam Gambhir misses pollution meet 

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of Urban Development was postponed in Delhi on Saturday as the MCD, Vice-Chairman of DDA, Secretary/Joint Secretary of Environment also did not attend it. Reportedly, 25 out of 29 members did not attend the meeting even as air quality deteriorated in the national capital of Delhi. BJP MP Gautam Gambhir especially drew a lot of flak for escaping the pollution meet and attending Test match in Indore. This has resulted in a lot of memes surfacing on social media and on Sunday missing posters have also propped up around the ITO area in Delhi. The poster reads, "Have you seen him (Gambhir)? He was last seen eating jalebi in Indore. All of Delhi is searching for him”.  

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