Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Monday blamed Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for violating the Supreme Court's blanket ban on the manufacture, storage, sale, and use of firecrackers in the national capital and NCR during Diwali celebrations on Sunday, eliciting a sharp response from BJP. On Monday, Gopal Rai convened a pollution review meeting with personnel from the environment department in the Delhi Secretariat.
The decision was made after the Air Quality Index (AQI) in various areas of Delhi-NCR became'very bad' on Monday, a day after Diwali celebrations.
Speaking with ANI, Rai stated: “The bursting of firecrackers has increased pollution levels in Delhi. Not many people have burst firecrackers, but it was done in some places in a targeted manner. The way BJP leaders were inciting people, its result can be seen today."
Reacting sharply, Virendraa Sachdeva, Delhi BJP president, blamed Rai of "doing politics of polarisation."
"Many a time it feels that Gopal Rai is not the Environment Minister, he speaks like a Spokesperson. Gopal Rai should say that what did they do to curb pollution. If you are holding Diwali responsible for the increase in pollution in Delhi, you are doing politics of polarisation. You are attempting to please a particular category. On 4th November, AQI in Anand Vihar was 498, today it is 240 - after the bursting of crackers on Diwali. So, was it Arvind Kejriwal who burst crackers on 4th November?...Unless AAP and Arvind Kejriwal address the main issues of pollution & try to do away with the stubble burning in Punjab, the issue in Delhi will persist," Sachdeva told ANI.
Taking to X, Delhi's BJP stated: "Kejriwal, don't try to hide your uselessness under the guise of Diwali and firecrackers. You have become blind in the politics of polarization. If burning of firecrackers causes pollution on one day, then what causes pollution for the rest of the year? How did AQI reach more than 900 in the early days of November when there were no firecrackers and no Diwali? And after Diwali the AQI is around 250."
"If the AAP government had made a plan in time and implemented it instead of lying, making fake action plans and shifting blame for the last 8 years, then Delhi would not have been suffocating today and Diwali would not have been an excuse. Have some Shame," the party further added.
On Monday, Delhi's air quality remained in the 'very poor' category. The PM 2.5 levels increased to nearly 30 times the allowable hourly limits for the ultrafine particle, with the surge in concentration - between midnight and 2am - projected to progressively push Delhi's average air quality index (AQI) to the 'severe' category later in the day.