New Delhi, Oct 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Emphasising the need to bridge the gap between policymakers and technology innovators, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday interacted with start-ups and innovation companies working on air pollution mitigation in Delhi-NCR.
Yadav presented a set of specific problem statements and sought solutions covering nine key areas of air pollution management and engaged with the innovators on how their technologies could be adapted, scaled and deployed on the ground, said an official statement.
The Minister highlighted that the engagement sought to complement ongoing measures such as the Graded Response Action Plan, promotion of cleaner fuels and electric mobility, and strengthening of air-quality monitoring with source-level technological interventions.
He said that such engagement can help bring greater uniformity in policy implementation and enhance transparency in governance. Stressing the need for stronger technology-enabled enforcement, he said that integration of OCEMS data with plant-operation data is essential to identify malpractices, and AI can play an important role in achieving this objective.
The Union Minister emphasised the importance of city-wide air-quality monitoring and called for cleaner vehicles and smoother traffic management, including tamper-proof PUC monitoring and AI-based prediction of traffic congestion hotspots.
He said that start-ups need to focus on environment-friendly solutions for scientific management of crop residue, solid waste, and construction and demolition waste.
He also stressed the need for guidelines on crop stubble storage involving the Ministry of Agriculture, CAQM and CPCB, along with development of an in-situ crop-residue storage model.
Yadav highlighted the need for faster and more efficient road maintenance as an important measure for active road-dust control.
The Union Minister said that the major focus of the interaction was on using artificial intelligence, sensors, remote sensing, satellite and drone-based technologies and data analytics to move towards real-time understanding of air pollution.
He stated that solutions presented by the innovators include hyperlocal air-quality monitoring, city-wide pollution mapping, hotspot identification and forecasting, AI-based source apportionment, real-time identification of pollution sources and predictive traffic-congestion management.
He said technologies were displayed for 24x7 detection of stubble and open biomass burning, as well as automated identification of vehicles without valid PUC certificates and over-aged vehicles, which could further strengthen timely enforcement and intervention, he added.
The Minister also talked about the solutions that sought to address the waste and residue dimensions of air pollution. These included technology-enabled systems to connect recycled construction and demolition waste products with construction-sector demand, municipal solid waste management, and integrated systems for collection, transportation and productive utilisation of paddy straw for bioenergy, biomass fuel, composting and other value-added applications.
Start-ups working on crop-residue-based materials and biochar-based solutions also brought about opportunities to convert agricultural residue into productive uses rather than treating it as waste, the statement said.
Source: IANS
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