The programme will cover around 609 km of roads with a right of way of less than 10 metres. A total of 854 roads across 250 wards have been identified for cleaning, particularly in areas where mechanised sweeping facilities are currently unavailable.
The government will provide a grant to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to procure 30 electric vehicle-based mechanical road sweeping machines. The MCD will deploy and operate the machines, with the 10-year deployment programme estimated to cost around Rs. 3.94 bn.
The use of electric machines is intended to keep the pollution-control operation environment-friendly while enabling more consistent removal of dust from roads. The Delhi government and MCD will jointly oversee the expansion of ground-level measures to address road dust, which the Cabinet identified as a major source of particulate pollution.
In a separate decision, the government will collaborate with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) to develop a system for continuous, real-time identification and analysis of pollution sources. The five-year project, estimated to cost around Rs. 192.2 mn, will measure PM2.5 and PM10 sources continuously over 24 hours, including vehicular emissions, road dust and biomass burning.
The project will also restart the existing super site and mobile laboratory to support scientific assessment. The government said the system would help quantify major pollution sources and strengthen the scientific basis of its strategy for tackling air pollution in the national capital.