New Delhi: Delhi Congress leaders, including party chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, staged a protest amid the worsening air quality in the national capital on Friday. The Congress leaders wore oxygen masks as they protested against the AAP dispensation in Delhi and the Central government over air pollution and rise in onion prices.
Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Lovely blamed the AAP dispensation of taking delayed action over the worsening air quality.
“Delhi government should have taken measures to control air pollution 15 days ago. Infrastructure projects are delayed while the public transport system has collapsed leading to a rise in the usage of private vehicles in the city contributing to air pollution,” the Congress leader said.
"Dust will increase if metro projects are delayed, flyovers are changed...In the last nine years, you have not been able to formulate even one new policy to introduce a new mode of transport. For this, both Central and Delhi government are responsible...They need to work throughout the year," he added.
Meanwile, flagging concerns over the rising air pollution in the country, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called for a complete overhaul of the Air Pollution Act in order to make it more effective and stringent.
Taking to X, he wrote, “The Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act came into being in 1981. Thereafter, ambient air quality standards were announced in April 1994 and later revised in October 1998.”
His post comes at a time when Delhi and the neighbouring areas are grappling with severe air pollution, leading to school closure and imposition of curbs.
According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR India), the air quality index (AQI) of Delhi stood at 346, taking it to ‘Very Poor’ category.
The Congress leader lamented the “weakness” of the pollution control Act and the air quality standards, saying the subject makes headlines around November only when the national capital chokes. However, it is a “daily agony” throughout the year, he noted.
“In January 2014, an expert Steering Committee on Air Pollution and Health Related Issues was set up and this submitted its report in August 2015. Since then the weaknesses in our enforcement machinery of both the law and the standards along with the emasculation of the National Green Tribunal have become painfully evident,” Jairam Ramesh wrote.
“The National Clean Air Programme is chugging along without having any marked impacts. Air pollution hits the headlines mostly in November when the nation’s capital chokes. But it is a daily agony across the country all round the year,” he added.