Need 27 months to tackle pollution; it is a shared responsibility, says CM

Exuding confidence, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday said Delhi residents will see visible improvements in governance in the next six months and asserted that her government needed at least 27 months to fix the air pollution problem in the national capital.

Speaking at a public event at Dilli Haat in Pitampura, Ms. Gupta questioned why people who protested against rising pollution at India Gate had remained silent for 27 years when the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were in power. “For 27 years, nothing was done, but these protesters were silent, and now they have come out on the streets. At least give us 27 months to solve the problem,” she said.

Ms. Gupta stressed that “every citizen has a crucial role in this fight against pollution as it is a shared responsibility between the government and society”.  Her remarks came after a group of citizens gathered at India Gate on November 23 to protest against the city’s toxic air and demanded urgent government action.

The Chief Minister distributed electric heaters to night guards of various Resident Welfare Associations. The initiative aims to reduce smoke and pollution caused by open fires during winter, she said, describing it as a “major seasonal source of pollution” in the Capital.

Criticising the previous AAP government’s ‘odd-even’ and ‘smog tower’ initiatives, Ms. Gupta said they did not improve air quality but involved crores of rupees being spent on advertising. “In 11 years, they did not take any concrete measures,” she said.

‘Bid to corner govt.’

Taking a dig at the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Ms. Gupta said the Opposition party was raising its voice against pollution now only because it sees an “opportunity to corner the government”.

“The Congress was in power in Delhi for so many years, but they did nothing,” she said.

Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav responded by calling the CM “short-sighted” and accused her of evading responsibility. “There has been a BJP government at the Centre since 2014, the BJP ran the Municipal Corporation of Delhi from 2007 to 2022, and has been in power in Delhi for the last 10 months, yet the city’s pollution problem has not been solved,” he said.

Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said despite a 10% rise in vehicles and more than 20% increase in construction activity this year, Delhi has recorded “significant and encouraging” improvement in its air quality compared with previous years.

Meanwhile, Delhi’s 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) continued to remain in the ‘very poor’ category at 308 on Sunday.