A high-level taskforce led by the Prime Minister's Office will initiate action in advance for the management of air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR), said the PMO on September 19. As per an official release, a high-level task force led by Dr P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister will review action taken by agencies and firm up plans for the coming season on September 18. The release said, 'Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Dr PK Mishra chaired the meeting of the high-level task force constituted to improve the air quality in the National Capital Region of Delhi. Chief Secretaries of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, Secretaries of different department and ministries of the central government including M/o (members) of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Agriculture, Road, Petroleum, and Central Pollution Control Board were present in the meeting. While assessing the overall situation, it was noted that crop burning incidents in neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh were still high last year. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister issued a number of directions to intensify the planned actions to ensure that stubble burning is discontinued. Principal Secretary mentioned that special emphasis should be laid on the deployment of teams for control of open burning of waste, IT-enabled monitoring of mechanical road sweepers, improvement in utilisation of construction and demolition waste, and site-specific implementation of the action plan for identified hot spots.'