New Delhi: As pollution level in Delhi continues to shoot up for consecutive days just before Diwali, the issue has become the subject of a political slugfest between the Opposition BJP and ruling AAP government in the national capital on Friday.
An alarm bell was also sounded by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. It asked the forest department to take urgent measures to ensure bringing down the high pollution level in the national capital which recorded the highest AQI level and became the most polluted city.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shehzad Poonawalla slammed the Delhi government for the air quality crisis in the national capital and said that the metropolitan city had become a 'gas chamber' under the governance of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The BJP leader hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and said that the health of people in Delhi was at risk, all due to the failure of the Kejriwal government. Poonawalla, who was doing morning at a park filled with smog and haze, said, "Usually when we come to a park, we come to ensure that our health becomes better but today when we have to come to a park in Delhi, one has to wear such kind of paraphernalia and such masks because Delhi has become a gas chamber under Arvind Kejriwal."
"Mr Kejriwal has ensured that the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels in Delhi are at their highest in the last four to five years. Even the American ambassador is commenting on it. It is reaching 600-700 AQI at many places in Delhi. When Mr Kejriwal was not in power in Punjab, he used to blame the (Parali) stubble burning in Punjab, although that was never the main reason for pollution, there are many other reasons internally for the pollution in Delhi," Poonawalla added.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai shot back saying the government cannot control the pollution in the national capital completely and that sources outside the city cause twice the pollution than inside. The Environment Minister said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi is working on a war footing to curb the pollution level.
This came after the air quality in several parts of the national capital reeled under the 'severe' category on Friday morning with Mundka recording the highest Air Quality Index (498). As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the AQI in the Lodhi Road area was recorded at 438, in Jahangirpuri at 491, in the RK Puram area and in IGI Airport (T3) at 486 and 473 respectively. When asked whether the Delhi government has failed in curbing the pollution level, Gopal Rai said, "First of all, it is wrong to think that the Delhi Government can control pollution completely because the matter of pollution is not of Delhi alone.
Sources outside Delhi cause twice the pollution here than the sources within Delhi." He said that the Delhi government is working on a war footing. "It is a result of the efforts of CM Arvind Kejriwal that as per the report of the Central Government, in 2015, there were only 109 days out of 365 in which air quality was good. Last year we reached 163 days. This year, Delhi experienced more than 200 days of good air quality." The minister said that after the Delhi government's efforts, the 13 hotspots identified last year across the city now have been reduced to 5, adding that the next 15 days of November are crucial.
