Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday unveiled a new plan to combat the high levels of pollution in the national capital, which has often been listed as the most polluted city in the world with Air Quality Index (AQI) dropping to alarming levels.
The Air Pollution Mitigation Plan 2025, which was unveiled on Tuesday, will focus on the implementation of various strategies to ensure Delhi turns into a “pollution-free” city.
“Air pollution has been a recurrent problem in Delhi. People have suffered for far too long. But now, we are taking historic steps that will bring visible, measurable change,” said CM Gupta.
Key features of Delhi’s anti-pollution plan
As per CM Gupta, some of the features under the ‘Shuddh Hawa Sabka Adhikar – Pradushan Par Zordar Prahar’ plan are the deployment of electric autos at metro stations, anti-smog guns at pollution hotspots, artificial rain and much more.
The Delhi government also announced that only BS-VI vehicles, CNG vehicles and electric vehicles will be allowed entry into the union territory after November 1, 2025. This feature will not apple to vehicles already registered in Delhi.
The chief minister added that an audit of Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) centres will also be conducted every six months to prevent any form of corruption.
As per reports, the plan contains a total of 81 measures, all of which will work towards combating air pollution in the city.
“By 2027, 2,000 electric buses will ply the streets, and 18,000 public charging stations will be set up,” stated CM Gupta, adding that 2,299 e-autos will be deployed by Delhi Metro.
Another key feature of the plan will be the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign. Launched by PM Modi, the campaign will be taken at a mass scale from June 5 and around 70 lakh saplings are slated to be planted this year.
Delhi most polluted city of 2024
Air pollution in Delhi continues to be a an unresolved problem for the city. In winter months, the air quality index levels often hit hazardous due to increased stubble burning in neighbouring states, vehicular emissions, and lower temperatures.
Last year, Delhi’s AQI crossed the hazardous mark, prompting the former AAP government to declare an emergency and implement GRAP IV.
As per a report by IQ Air, Delhi was also the most polluted city of 2024.
“In 2024, Delhi found that its average annual PM2.5 concentration had climbed to 108.3 µg/m³, up from 102.1 µg/m³ in 2023. Delhi ranked as the fourth most polluted major city in both 2021 and 2022 and the fifth in 2023, demonstrating a continually worsening trend in air quality,” read the report issued by the Swiss-based agency.