NEW DELHI: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Friday said that the air quality is deteriorating as winter approaches the national capital. The highest AQI was reported in Wazirpur.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader further informed that the concerned authorities have been instructed to find out the local sources behind the deteriorating air quality.
“Winter is coming and the level of air pollution is increasing. The level has reached the poor category in Delhi. There are 13 hotspots in Delhi where AQI has crossed 300- Wazirpur, Mundka, Rohini, Jahangirpuri, Anand Vihar, Dwarka Sector-8, Bawana, Narela, Vivek Vihar, Okhla Phase 2, Punjabi Bagh, Ashok Vihar and RK Puram. The AQI level was highest in Wazirpur…We have instructed the authorities to find out the local sources behind it,” Rai said in a press conference.
Earlier, countering the Bharatiya Janata Party over the air pollution in the national capital, Gopal Rai on Friday said that the opposition has no right to comment on this as the BJP government is sleeping in UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and the centre.
“The effect of the adverse condition is visible in the pollution. The speed of the wind is decreasing in Delhi and the temperature is going down rapidly. As a result, the air quality has reached the poor category. In some hotspots, the pollution is more than the poor category… A meeting regarding the hotspots has been called at the Delhi Secretariat at 1 pm today… We are creating a plan while the BJP governments are sleeping in UP, Haryana, Rajasthan and the centre… The SC ordered Delhi and the central government to install one smog tower each… The BJP should also go to the Anand Vihar’s smog tower installed by them…” said Rai.
“I want to ask them to not create drama. We have increased the green area in Delhi. We have provided electricity for 24 hours and minimised pollution from generators. We have been running electric buses. AAP has reduced pollution and they are increasing it,” he added.
Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Friday reached ‘Smog Tower’ to protest over the air pollution in the national capital. Slamming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the BJP leader said that Arvind Kejriwal had cheated the people in the national capital in the name of air pollution now their health has been put at risk.
“Today Delhi has become a gas chamber due to blame game politics of the Aam Aadmi Party. They had made big promises that they would make Delhi pollution-free. Look at the condition of Yamuna today and Delhi has become a gas chamber. Aam Aadmi Party bans firecrackers on Diwali but the smog tower on which Rs 23 crore was spent has been locked… The way the Aam Aadmi Party has cheated people in the name of pollution and is working to make Delhi the most poisonous and polluted city, this will be exposed,” said Poonawalla.
“This smog tower has been locked since January. It is because of the polluted politics of Arvind Kejriwal that the health of our old citizens and children has been put at risk,” he added. (ANI)