Winter Session, Day 2 Updates: In Lok Sabha, BJP Train Guns At AAP For Delhi Air Pollution

Recently elected Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir, who was recently crticised by AAP for skipping a meeting of a parliamentary panel on air pollution, called for an end to politics over pollution.

Opposition members protest in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: For the second straight day, Lok Sabha continued to witness an uproar on Tuesday on several issues including air pollution in the national capital and across the country. The Parliament session, where the issue of pollution was taken up by the lower house, saw Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Delhi cornering the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government over its alleged inability to tackle the air pollution in the city. Both BJP and the AAP have been hurdling each other for the past few weeks, over the issue of deteriorating air quality index (AQI) in the national capital. Several BJP MPs who attended Tuesday's session including Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwari slammed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's odd-even scheme and pointed out his government’s alleged inability to tackle the pollution emanating from landfill sites. Recently elected Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir, who was recently crticised by AAP for skipping a meeting of a parliamentary panel on air pollution, called for an end to politics over pollution. “It is high time we stop politicising over such grave issues,” the East Delhi lawmaker said in Lok Sabha alleging that Delhi government's odd-even scheme is nothing but a ‘gimmick’. “The public is smart and the state is that of a climate emergency…. The state can no longer get away with gimmicks such as odd-even, shutting construction sites,” Gautam Gambhir said during a discussion on air pollution in the Lok Sabha. BJP MP Parvesh Verma on Tuesday accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of not doing anything to curb air pollution in the city and criticised him for blaming farmers of neighbouring states for the problem. Participating in a discussion on "Air Pollution and Climate Change" in the Lok Sabha, the West Delhi MP also slammed the AAP government for ignoring major sources of pollution, including vehicles and dust. Verma was asked by the Chair not to name the Delhi chief minister. Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) have been grappling with hazardous levels of air pollution since late October. The Delhi government has repeatedly asserted that stubble burning by farmers in the neighbouring states contributes significantly to the pollution in the national capital. Verma claimed Rs 600 crore was spent by the Delhi government on advertisements but little had been actually done to curb pollution. By blaming the farmers in villages for pollution, he said, the Delhi government was only widening the urban-rural divide. The BJP MP claimed that the AAP government had spent Rs 70 crore on publicising the odd-even road rationing scheme but did not take steps to increase the number of public buses. "People are using personal vehicles due to poor public transport facilities, which is adding to the pollution," he said. "Earlier the chief minister used to cough, but now the entire city and members of the House are coughing," he added. Verma claimed that the situation in the national capital has reached a point where many residents want to leave Delhi. He said the Delhi chief minister purchased 50 lakh pollution masks that "are of no use to the people". Verma also appealed to the members of the House to donate Rs 2 crore from their Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme fund for setting up pollution control towers in Delhi as they spend 200 days of the year in the city. Speaking about the pollution of Yamuna, the BJP leader criticised the Delhi government for not formulating an industrial policy to ensure that untreated waste is not pumped into the river.  Meanwhile, AAP slammed the three BJP MPs from Delhi, Harsh Vardhan, Hans Raj Hans and Ramesh Bidhuri, who did not attend the discussion on air pollution in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. "BJP Delhi MPs were missing from the parliament during the important debate on pollution. But when it will be time to hold a meeting for spreading lies about water, all MPs will be present," AAP said from its official Twitter handle.