Swipe For Cleaner Air: CM Launches Green Delhi App

New Delhi: The “Green Delhi” mobile app, which was launched by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday, saw 228 complaints against pollutants and violation of anti-pollution norms being registered within hours of going live. The app is part of a slew of anti-pollution measures announced earlier this month by Delhi government under the “Yuddh, Pradushan Ke Viruddh” campaign.

“We want every citizen to participate in the campaign. No movement can succeed until people take part in it. The Green Delhi app can be downloaded from Google Play Store for Android phones. It will be available on other platforms soon,” Kejriwal said.

People can take a photo or shoot a video of polluting activities, such as garbage burning, industrial pollution, construction dust, etc, and upload it on the app. The location of the source of pollution would be generated automatically.

“After a complaint is received, the department concerned will resolve it in a time-bound manner based on the timeline set for different types of complaints. When the issue is resolved, the department will upload a picture as proof within the specified period. If the citizen is not satisfied with the resolution, the complaint will be reopened,” said Kejriwal.

The monitoring of the number of complaints received and their resolution would be done 24x7 in a “Green War Room”. “Around 70 green marshals have been deployed for effective resolution of complaints registered on the app. If a complaint is found being registered repeatedly despite being resolved, the green marshals will visit the location and inspect it for false reporting,” said the CM.

Delhi government aims to involve every agency and department in the campaign. “Please let us know about any difficulties that you may face in the app. We will work towards resolving them,” said Kejriwal.

Environment minister Gopal Rai said around 21 departments, including the municipal corporations, Delhi Police and Delhi Development Authority, had been attached with the app and separate nodal officers and coordinators had been appointed for effective resolution of the complaints.

Rai said 12 coordinators had been assigned to the green war room to check every complaint and oversee the resolution process. “If the complaints are not resolved within 48 hours, they will coordinate with senior officials of the departments concerned and work towards resolving the complaints,” he added.

“Since the app was launched today, the complaints received over the next 2-3 days will be monitored department-wise. A meeting on the complaints and overall monitoring with nodal officers and coordinators of every department will be conducted on November 2. Apart from live monitoring of the war room, we have also prepared an internal dashboard,” Rai said.

Asked about the formation of Commission for Air Quality Management by the central government, Rai said stringent steps were needed to curb pollution, but taking action was more important than forming teams. “Supreme Court had granted power to Central Pollution Control Board and EPCA too, but the power granted would be useless if no action was taken,” added the minister.