Kejriwal slams Centre, Delhi govt over Delhi pollution

Mohali, Dec 18 (PTI) AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday slammed the Centre and the BJP government in Delhi over pollution in the national capital, alleging they do not have any intention to address this issue.

The former Delhi chief minister further said that earlier it used to be said that pollution in Delhi was caused by stubble burning in Punjab. But now, no stubble burning is taking place in Punjab, he said, adding that the air quality index (AQI) in all cities of Punjab was between 70 and 100.

"So whatever pollution is at present in Delhi is its own," said Kejriwal.

Replying to a question on the worsening pollution situation in the national capital, Kejriwal asked the Union government and the dispensation in Delhi to take appropriate steps to address this issue.

When his AAP government was in power, Delhi had never witnessed "severe pollution" which is present in the national capital, said Kejriwal.

"The official AQI (in Delhi) which is being shown at present and all people know that it is manipulated as water is sprinkled around meters. Despite this, the AQI is crossing 450 levels. But in reality, the AQI will be 700-800," he claimed.

Instead of controlling pollution, they are tampering with the AQI, he alleged.

"For many days, the GRAP Stage IV was not allowed to be implemented. It was implemented recently. But construction work was still underway in Delhi. GRAP Stage IV was only implemented on paper," he alleged.

Referring to the pollution problem, he said when AAP was in power, it used to take many steps to stop pollution.

Lashing out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over pollution in Delhi, the AAP supremo said not even a single word was uttered by him over it.

"The capital of the country has turned into a gas chamber and the prime minister of that country has nothing to do with pollution, then how pollution level can come down?" said Kejriwal.

Pollution level of Delhi will come down when the Union government takes active interest in it and will work towards it, he said.

"Neither our Delhi government nor the central government has the intention (to address the issue of pollution)," he alleged.

"Somebody was saying the PM is in Oman, the Leader of Opposition in Germany and the country's capital is in pollution. When nobody has any concern, then how pollution level will come down?" said Kejriwal. PTI CHS VSD KSS KSS