EU ambassador Astuto meets CM Kejriwal; discusses COVID management, pollution situation

European Union Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday and they had a healthy discussion over the handling of COVID-19 in Delhi as well as the prevailing situation of pollution, according to an official statement.

The Delhi Chief Minister told the ambassador that the Delhi government has done solid work in curbing the spread of COVID-19 and sero-surveys suggest that the national capital is largely safe if people take precautions.

"There is no new strain of the virus. Nearly 50 per cent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated and about 90 per cent has taken at least one jab. We are working rapidly to vaccinate everyone," the statement quoted Kejriwal as saying.

Kejriwal said that he is constantly monitoring the trends of COVID-19 and keeping an eye out for any situation where the graphs may seem to increase.

Astuto appreciated the Kejriwal government's efforts in keeping COVID-19 in control across Delhi.

The chief minister was keen to understand Europe's experience with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and asked the ambassador for his inputs in protecting Delhi from a similar scenario.

The ambassador said that it largely depends on the rate of vaccination and ideally it should be easier to handle when most of the population has taken the jab, the statement said.

Kejriwal also apprised Astuto about the Delhi government's efforts towards controlling pollution throughout the year.

"About 5,000 to 6,000 industrial units of Delhi were made to switch to green fuel in the form of PNG by the Delhi government. Earlier, these industries relied on heavily polluting industrial fuels so it was our top priority to make them switch over to healthier practices," Kejriwal said in the statement.

He said that the government has given a huge push to tree transplantation in Delhi.

He said that when the common trend is of seeing the tree cover go down with expansion of development, Delhi's green cover is actually increasing.

"We have gone from 20% to 22% of tree cover of late. There were two coal-based power plants that were heavily polluting our air so we shut them down. We have also announced an electric vehicle policy to promote the use of EVs instead of fuel run vehicles, Kejriwal said.

He also apprised Astuto that the Delhi government has tied up with IIT-Kanpur to develop a real-time pollution identification mechanism that will help them know what source is causing pollution at what point of time so that authorities can take immediate action.

"Delhi is the only city which is running public transport completely on CNG and has stopped the use of polluting vehicles. Tree transplantation policy, EV policy, making industries run on green fuel, shutting coal-dependant power plants have helped keep the pollution levels down, the statement said. 

Image: Twitter/@CMODelhi