New Delhi: Delhi has drawn up a seven-month Information, Education and Communication (IEC) plan to raise public awareness about pollution. The plan includes workshops for vehicle owners, commercial operators, students and citizens on the harmful effects of end-of-life vehicles, reducing idling, lane discipline, parking and timely vehicle servicing. It will also include seminars for road-owning agencies on scientific road-dust management, timely road repairs and redevelopment.The action plan follows directions from Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) after it found that staff in many agencies were unaware of how they could help reduce pollution. “We learnt that staff of many agencies were not properly briefed that potholed roads and garbage dumps also contribute to the pollution,” said an official.Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have prepared IEC plans covering industrial pollution, diesel generator sets, road dust, construction and demolition activities, municipal solid waste, biomass and agricultural residue burning, thermal power plants and vehicular emissions. Delhi has planned monthly workshops, community programmes, social media campaigns, radio jingles and training sessions from Sept 2026 to March 2027.Urban local bodies will run weekly drives targeting citizens to discourage littering and road dumping, encourage reporting of damaged roads and dust hotspots, and push behavioural change. Construction workers will receive at least one training workshop or on-site demonstration every month at an active project on dust mitigation, material handling and disposal of C&D waste.The transport department and Delhi Traffic Police will conduct one awareness activity for vehicle owners every month, while meetings with commercial operators, transport associations, delivery service providers and e-commerce entities will be held monthly. Schools and colleges will also have monthly awareness programmes in coordination with the education department.
