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With an eye on arresting the Capital’s carbon footprint, the Delhi Government has identified a set of 65 action points that each department of the administration would have to follow. These pointers, put together in a volume titled “Climate Change Agenda for Delhi 2009-2010” and authored by Delhi’s Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta cover a variety of issues like noise, air & water pollution, municipal waste generation and greening. The Chief Secretary has said, though Delhi has taken a lead by switching over to eco-friendly Compressed Natural Gas, a cleaner fuel, transport still remains a critical area.
On the issue of water pollution, the new agenda calls for promoting decentralised wastewater treatment systems to reduce carriage cost and maintenance of large sewerage system. While the targets for the State Transport Department include induction of more CNG buses, imposition of congestion tax to check growth of vehicle population and the possibility of using low sulphur diesel/petrol to reduce harmful emissions, the Department of Environment has been marked to work on the possibility of converting waste oil from commercial establishments into bio-fuel. The Forest Department has been set a target of bringing 500 sq. km under green cover by 2012 and open a new eco-task force by 2009. Creation of about 250 green buildings, increasing the capacity of solar water heating, building retro fitment for 100 buildings for energy efficiency and encourage the use of renewable energy to 5% of the total energy produced by 2012 are some of the targets for the Power Department.
The Delhi Jal Board’s brief is to increase the efficiency of water use to 20%, check leakages, install water recharge system in 1,000 buildings and provide sewer connections, complete 80% work on the Renuka Dam project and restore water bodies. Targets have also been set for the Education Department, the PWD, the Health Department, the Delhi Police and the Industries Department.
