New Delhi: The BJP accused AAP leaders on Friday of hurting Hindu sentiments by blaming Diwali firecrackers for the pollution in Delhi, pointing out that there was no significant change in the capital's air quality a day after the festival.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders claimed that Delhi's air quality has taken a hit due to the failure of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its chief, Arvind Kejriwal, to repair the city's damaged roads by October 31 and not the firecrackers that were burst on Diwali.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said in 2022 and 2023, the AQI recorded in the morning after Diwali was lower than that of the previous day.
"Despite this, the AAP government has been running a vigorous anti-firecracker campaign for the past month and imposed a ban on it, which was ignored by the residents of the city," Sachdeva said in a statement. He alleged that dust from vehicles on Delhi's damaged roads and vehicular emissions had a "far greater impact" than the firecrackers burst on a single night.
"Kejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and Environment Minister Gopal Rai should now acknowledge that they were defaming the 'Sanatan' traditions and Hindu sentiments by holding firecracker bursting on Diwali as the reason behind the spike in the air pollution and apologise to the Hindu community," Sachdeva said.
Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta also claimed that the dust rising from Delhi's broken roads played a major role in worsening the air pollution. "If all roads in Delhi were properly maintained and cleanliness was managed effectively, the city's pollution would reduce by 50 per cent," he said.
Gupta, who visited the Shastri Park area on Friday, claimed that hundreds of roads in the city were lying in disrepair despite promises made by former chief minister Kejriwal and his successor, Atishi, to repair those before Diwali.
"The AAP should stop indulging in politics and blame game and focus on local sources of pollution, such as dust, that are more responsible for the hazardous air quality in Delhi," he said.
Gupta said the air pollution situation in Delhi was as bad as it was before Diwali and added that the AAP and Kejriwal should stop "misleading" people.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor claimed that the comparative Air Quality Index (AQI) data from the last four days would show that pollution levels in the capital did not increase because of firecrackers. Gupta also claimed that sewage water flowing from residential colonies is the main cause for the Yamuna river's pollution. He alleged that the AAP government has not installed sufficient sewage treatment plants (STPs).
At some places, the capacity of the STPs is so low that they cannot treat all the sewage, he said, adding that in Chilla, there is a 9-minimum liquid discharge (MLD) capacity plant, while 101 MLD of sewage from the area is flowing directly into the Yamuna.
Similarly, in areas like Shastri Park and Kailash Nagar, untreated sewage water from colonies is flowing directly into the river, polluting it further, Gupta said.
The situation is similar at the ITO crossing sewage outfall, where there is an STP but it can only treat 10 MLD of the 50 MLD sewage that flows into the Yamuna, leaving the remaining 40 MLD of sewage untreated, the BJP leader claimed.
The AAP, in a statement, said the pollution in the Yamuna seems to spike only during Diwali and Chhath Puja, and alleged that this is no accident, but a "deliberate conspiracy" hatched by the BJP.
The BJP-ruled states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh release industrial waste laced with hazardous chemicals into the Yamuna, creating the foam that pollutes the river's waters, the Kejriwal-led party alleged.
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