Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said the Kejriwal government was making innovations to maximise the potential of public-oriented governance.

Keeping this in mind, the government has launched the “Paryavaran Saathi Chatbot” to invigorate the youth in its fight against pollution.

The Chatbot is a partnered initiative with UNICEF’s YuWaah with over 10 lakh youth already connected and out of this, 50,000 are from Delhi.

One can simply text ‘Hi’ on WhatsApp to 9650414141 to talk to the Chatbot and become an active contributor to the Kejriwal government’s movement against pollution.

“Paryavaran Saathi Chatbot” is a medium to engage the youth by making them the “Paryavaran Saathis”. These Saathis will be given points based on their participation; out of which the top 100 will be felicitated, explained Gopal Rai.

The Environment Minister said, “Various departments of the Delhi government, the MCD, the DDA, the Transport Department and others have been collectively brought together to bolster the movement in the first phase of our war on pollution in Delhi. As part of this war, an anti-dust campaign was started in the second phase, and we made great efforts to involve private agencies as well. In the third phase, we reached out to RWAs, market associations, NGOs and other social organisations to join our campaign against pollution. Today, to further strengthen our movement, we will involve Delhi’s youth in this fight.”

He added, “To make this possible, the Delhi government, in collaboration with UNICEF YuWaah, is launching the ‘Paryavaran Saathi’ Chatbot. The objective is to enable the youth, especially those who regularly use WhatsApp and other social media platforms, to play a crucial role in the fight against pollution — become a ‘Paryavaran Saathi.”

The Environment Minister continued that the Delhi government is already working on initiatives like the anti-dust campaign, the ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ drive, the dispensing of the bio-decomposer to prevent stubble burning in Delhi and the ‘Patakhe Nahi, Diye Jalao’ programme for a cracker-free Diwali.

Similarly, using this Chatbot as a medium, the government will engage the youth for the anti-pollution fight.