Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav on Friday said automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras should be installed at fuel stations to effectively implement the ‘No PUCC, No Fuel’ initiative and called for accelerated action to significantly reduce pollution levels before the onset of winter.
Yadav made the remarks during a meeting with chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Kirtivardhan Singh, UP forest and environment minister Arun Kumar and state transport minister Dayashankar Singh to discuss measures to control pollution, particularly in the NCR region.
He also stressed the need to expedite the deployment of electric buses in the Uttar Pradesh region of the NCR, noting significant deficiencies in the existing fleet, according to a press statement. The Union minister said that for pollution from stubble burning, a meeting with agriculture ministers of states was being lined up. Emphasising the need to improve urban traffic management, Yadav directed officials to identify traffic congestion hotspots and implement measures to resolve them promptly through better coordination among various agencies, the statement said.
Adityanath directed all state government officials concerned to ensure timely action on the various measures discussed during the meeting. The state had been given a 30-crore target, but it planted 35 crore saplings.”
Highlighting the importance of timely action, Yadav said the period before the winter season should be fully utilised to implement pollution control measures in “mission mode”. The Union minister said the meeting covered vehicle pollution issues, including old vehicles, the new EV Policy, electric buses, mandatory pollution certificates, and aggregator vehicles. Lauding the state for environmental measures, the Union minister said, “UP has surpassed the target given for plantation and successfully planted saplings under the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign.
