Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Friday wrote to his central government counterpart Bhupender Yadav, urging him to call a meeting of environment ministers of states in the NCR in view of the "serious situation" of pollution in the region, sources said. The National Capital Region (NCR) also includes areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Rai said that despite a slew of measures taken by the Delhi government to curb pollution, "no positive improvement is being seen". In view of the pollution situation in the region, he said, "I urge you to call a meeting of environment ministers of states in the National Capital Region and experts to formulate a joint work strategy so that the pollution levels can be reduced."

"I have been requesting you (Union environment minister Yadav) for a continuous joint meeting for over a month, please try to take some time out for this joint meeting from your busy schedule," he said in the letter.

Rai said the Delhi’s internal pollution is largely under control due to numerous measures taken by the Kejriwal government, such as a ban on construction, the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign, a ban on trucks entering Delhi, pollution under check certificate, an anti-open burning campaign, among others. However, there is an urgent need for the Centre and the other state governments to control the remaining pollution, which is external, contributing to Delhi’s poor air quality, Rai said in his letter.

“However, as far as I am aware, the report released by CSE on the basis of data presented by IITM says that Delhi’s internal pollution accounts for 31 percent of the total pollution seen in the city, while 69 percent is from outside the city, from the NCR region. Hence, despite all our efforts to curb internal pollution levels, the overall pollution is still evident," Rai said in a press release.

“While governments are taking measures at their own level, we believe that a joint meeting and a collective effort is needed to have a proper impact and to significantly reduce pollution throughout Delhi-NCR. Hence, I have once again requested for a meeting to be held with all authorities concerned as well as experts," Rai said.