Soon, air purifiers will be installed in 10,000 classrooms at government schools to ensure clean air for the students, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood announced on Friday, while maintaining that a tender for the same has been floated.
Speaking to mediapersons, Sood said the 10,000 air purifiers will be installed in the first phase of the project, and the plan is to extend the facility to all government schools in Delhi.
According to Sood, there are 38,000 classrooms in government schools of Delhi. “We want our children to study smart and also breathe smart air. In the first phase, air purifiers will be installed in 10,000 classrooms. Tenders have been floated today itself,” he said.
“The objective is to ensure that air pollution does not adversely affect children’s health or education,” he added.
According to Unified District Information System for Education portal, under the Union Ministry of Education, there are 5,556 recognised schools in the Capital with an approximate enrolment of more than 46.29 lakh students. Of them, at least 48.25% are government and government-aided schools, with an enrolment rate of 41.61%, as per data from 2022-23. Sources said there are 1,047 government and government-aided schools in Delhi.
“Pollution in Delhi is not seasonal, but the result of years of policy failures,” Sood said, holding the previous AAP government responsible for the current situation.
Citing a recently tabled CAG report, Sood said that in 2017-18, 30% of Air Quality Index monitoring stations were deliberately installed in green areas to conceal actual pollution levels.
He alleged that campaigns such as ‘Odd-Even’ or ‘Gaadi On, Gaadi Off’ were “PR exercises” whose effectiveness had been questioned by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and courts.
“We are not those who flaunt IIT degrees and do campaigns like Odd-Even or Gaadi On, Gaadi Off campaign. We are tackling the issue of pollution through long-term administrative measures,” he said, taking a dig at the previous AAP government.
The Odd-Even scheme, first introduced by AAP under then chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, was implemented twice in 2016, from January 1 to 15 and again from April 15 to 30. The scheme aimed to curb vehicular pollution by restricting the movement of private vehicles based on the last digit of their registration numbers.
Sood also said Delhi is surrounded by states, and the weather conditions there determine the weather here. “We are committed towards the issue of eradicating pollution. I want to assure the people of Delhi that we are taking all possible steps, which will show their results on the ground very soon,” he added.
“From October 11, the use of recycled construction and demolition material has been made mandatory in construction works,” Sood said, maintaining that payments for civil works will not be released without compliance.
“The Bhalswa landfill is targeted for complete remediation by September 2026, and a tender has been issued for the disposal of 18 lakh metric tonnes of waste. Biogas plants have been commissioned at the Nangli Sakrawati and Ghoga dairies for scientific disposal of dairy waste,” he said.
The minister, who also holds the urban development portfolio, said the Public Works Department, using the environment cess, will also procure mechanical road sweepers for each Assembly constituency. He added that Rs 175 crore has been released to strengthen municipal bodies, with an additional Rs 500 crore under process.
“The Rs 45-crore electric vehicle (EV) subsidy, which had been withheld by the previous government, has been cleared. Bottlenecks in projects such as Metro Phase IV and the RRTS are also being removed to strengthen public transport,” Sood said.
Under the EV policy introduced by the AAP government, a direct subsidy of Rs 30,000 is given on the purchase of e-rickshaws and e-autos. Depending on the battery capactiy, a subsidy of Rs 5,000 per KW is given for two-wheelers, with the maximum subsidy being Rs 30,000. For four-wheelers, a maximum subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh is given. The disbursion faced backlogs following the arrest of Kejriwal last year, as Cabinet meetings could not be held, officials have said.
