Delhi chokes, netas squabble: The politics of pollution

Politicians in choking Delhi are indulging in one-upmanship after the Congress put the spotlight back on air pollution by recognising it as a “national public health emergency” in its manifesto released on Tuesday.

Rising pollution levels in Delhi-NCR have been a serious concern for some time now, so much so that the incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal once called the city a “gas chamber”.

The fight for taking credit (or avoiding the blame) in the battle against pollution seems to be as noxious as the city’s air. Vijender Gupta, leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, said the talk of tackling the pollution problem in the Congress manifesto is an example of election-eve opportunism.

“The Congress ruled Delhi for 15 years and did nothing to address pollution. Now they have come up with a manifesto which talks about strengthening a scheme [the National Clean Air Programme] started by the Modi government in January,” Gupta told Mail Today on Tuesday evening.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, too, slammed the Congress for failing to address the pollution crisis.

“Had the Congress performed in 70 years, it would not have needed to unveil false promises today. The way Congress calls its manifesto, including pollution, historic — its promises will also be buried in history in the same manner,” said Tiwari.

He declared that the BJP will come out with a separate manifesto for Delhi for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls which will include measures to make the Capital pollution-free.

“The AAP government has no willpower to take steps to control pollution. An environment cess of Rs 9,000 has been collected from the people of Delhi but it hasn’t been utilised well,” he said.

Aam Aadmi Party’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said tackling pollution needed a long-term solution.

“There is no doubt that pollution is a serious issue. Our government in Delhi has taken many steps to address it. But it cannot be done by emergency measures. We need to have a long-term plan. We need to bring down the number of vehicles on roads, we need to recycle and segregate waste. It has to be a holistic approach and results cannot be seen overnight,” Singh told Mail Today.

In its manifesto, the Congress said, “We will significantly strengthen the National Clean Air Program in order to urgently tackle the problem of pollution. All major sources of emission will be targeted, mitigated and reduced to acceptable levels.”