NEW DELHI: Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood on Friday announced that air purifiers will be installed in 10,000 classrooms of government schools in the first phase, with tenders issued the same day. He said the initiative would be expanded to cover all government schools in Delhi in a phased manner.
Addressing a press conference, Sood said the move was aimed at protecting students’ health and ensuring uninterrupted education amid high pollution levels. He underlined that the government was pursuing long-term administrative and policy solutions rather than short-term measures to tackle air pollution.
The minister blamed the city’s pollution crisis on what he described as policy failures of the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. He said pollution in Delhi was not a seasonal phenomenon but the result of years of administrative neglect. According to Sood, earlier campaigns focused on optics rather than outcomes.
Taking a swipe at past initiatives, he said, “Measures such as Odd-Even and ‘Red Light On, Vehicle Off’ failed to deliver meaningful results.” Referring to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, Sood claimed that during 2017–18, around 30% of air quality monitoring stations were placed in green zones, allegedly understating actual pollution levels. He added that the effectiveness of these campaigns had also been questioned by regulatory bodies and courts.
Sood cited SC observations pointing to a lack of funding for major public transport projects despite heavy spending on advertisements. He said the Rekha Gupta-led BJP government was focused on removing structural bottlenecks and strengthening core infrastructure.
Outlining recent measures, the minister said the use of recycled construction material has been made mandatory in construction works from October 11, 2025, with payments linked to compliance.
He added that the Bhalswa landfill is slated for complete remediation by September 2026, and a tender has been issued for disposal of 18 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste. He said biogas plants have been commissioned at Nangli Sakrawati and Ghoga dairies for scientific management of dairy waste.
To address dust pollution, mechanical sweeping machines will be deployed across Assembly constituencies. Sood said Rs 175 crore has been released to strengthen municipal bodies, while an additional Rs 500 crore is under process. He added that an EV subsidy of Rs 45 crore, pending earlier, has been cleared.
This story is reported by Anup Verma of The New Indian Express.