NEW DELHI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- India's Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday that the Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission norms will be implemented across the country next year in order to reduce vehicular pollution.
"From next year, BS-VI compliant vehicles will be available and the move will help reduce 90 percent vehicular pollution," he said while replying to a question in the lower house of parliament Lok Sabha.
He said that due to the opening of the peripheral expressway in Delhi, over 60,000 vehicles which earlier used to pass through the capital are now going to their destinations without entering Delhi.
The minister also stated that the government has installed an air pollutant monitor system in over 3,500 industries.
To address the issue of stubble burning, which affects the Delhi region a lot and is one of the major factors of air pollution during the winter season, Javadekar said he will hold a meeting of chief ministers of five states, where straw burning is a common practice, after the ongoing parliament session concludes.
He added that in the last three years, air pollutant PM10 level had been reduced by 16 percent and PM 2.5 by 15 percent in the capital because of the measures taken by the government to tackle air pollution.
