Babul Supriyo: Government monitoring air quality on hourly basis

Babul Supriyo at Bandra tea stall on Wednesday. Pic/ Pradeep Dhivar

While sipping on hot chai at a tea stall in Bandra on Tuesday, before proceeding to a function in Goa, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Babul Supriyo said that pollution was definitely a matter of concern, but everyone needed to contribute to tackle the menace.

"We have started hourly monitoring of air quality. The government is taking the best possible measures to handle the situation, but citizens need to equally participate to deal with the problem," he added.

mid-day caught up with Supriyo while he was on his way back from Lonavala and wanted to take a short break. Speaking about the pollution problem in urban cities like Delhi and Mumbai, Supriyo said, "The general perception is that vehicular pollution contributes to bad quality of air. Vehicles do add to pollution, but there are other factors like construction activities, that too add to the problem."

The BJP MP further said, "Not all, but many of the industries that add to the pollution do not follow preventive measures that are mentioned. For instance water should be sprinkled at construction sites on a daily basis. But, I believe, this is rarely done. Such flouting of norms, too, adds to the problem."

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