War of words breaks out between AAP, BJP after SC rap on air pollution

A war of words broke out between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party after the Supreme Court slammed the Delhi government for making 'lame excuses' over Delhi air pollution.

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Central government to call an "emergency meeting" on November 16 with Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh and sought an action plan to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the 'biggest pollution' in Delhi. "If there is any 'biggest pollution' category in Delhi, it is Arvind Kejriwal," he said.

"For the last seven years, Aam Aadmi Party only kept advertising. Till date, no action has been taken to fight pollution. Due to the failure of the Delhi government, people are forced to live in a gas chamber. If there is any 'biggest pollution' in Delhi, then it is only Arvind Kejriwal," he said.

Further, Gupta took to Twitter and tweeted, "SC slams Kejriwal Government! 'Lame excuses will force us to hold an audit of the revenue you are earning and spend on popularity slogans. Ads, ads and only ads but no work on the ground - that's the governance model of Arvind Kejriwal! Thanks to him Delhi has become a gas chamber!"

Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari demanded the resignation of the Delhi Chief Minister. He said, "Aam Aadmi Party government has become a symbol of misgovernance. On moral grounds, Kejriwal should resign from his post."

BJP MLA and former Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta tweeted, "Rising pollution in Delhi is an indictment of AAP's incompetence. Having failed to curb alarming pollution levels, yet again, it is no surprise that the Delhi government received a rap on knuckles by SC. No amount of ads can hide CM Arvind Kejriwal's abject failure."

Responding to these allegations, the AAP unit in Delhi in a tweet said that the Centre is spreading lies in the matter. AAP tweeted, "PM Modi-led government's lies in Supreme Court on pollution! On November 14--In the high-level meeting of the Centre, 30-40 per cent stubble burning was cited as the main reason of pollution. On November 15- Central government in SC said that only 10 per cent of this source of pollution is responsible for this. BJP's conspiracy is to suffocate Delhi. Tell the truth Government!"

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Monday urged the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh government to impose a lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR) to curb air pollution in Delhi-NCR and said that a joint-action plan is needed in the matter.

Speaking to ANI, Rai said, "The Delhi government is taking all possible steps to curb air pollution in the national capital. We have also submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court that we are ready for a lockdown. All the steps taken by the Delhi government will be effective only if Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh government will impose lockdown in the NCR."

"We are ready to take all measures with Centre and states. We will follow whatever SC directs. A joint-action plan is needed," he said.

Delhi's air quality on Monday witnessed marginal improvement as the air quality in the capital city reached the lower end of 'very poor' category with Air Quality Index (AQI) at 318 (overall), according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The pollution level in the National Capital Region (NCR), especially Noida and Gurugram, has also shown slight improvement. Noida reported AQI in the upper end of the 'very poor' category at 387, while the air quality in Gurugram has seen significant improvement and has now reached the lower end of the 'very poor' category at 317.

As per SAFAR's bulletin, the AQI is likely to improve by tomorrow "as winds at transport level are slowing down resulting in lesser intrusion of farm fire related pollutants into Delhi."

( With inputs from ANI )

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