Delhi govt to apprise CAQM of steps being taken to mitigate pollution, ministers say

The Delhi government on Wednesday said it will apprise the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) about the measures being taken by the government to mitigate pollution in the national capital and accused the previous AAP-led administration of inaction on the matter.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi ministers Pankaj Singh and Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the crackdown on end-of-life vehicles resulted from multiple orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) since 2014 and a subsequent Supreme Court ruling in 2018. The AAP has slammed the decision not to provide fuel to overage vehicles. The party called the decision a ''Tughlaqi'' order, declaring it anti-people and pro-corporate. These directives prohibit the operation of such aged vehicles on Delhi's roads due to their contribution to air pollution.

''This is not a matter of blame game, but it is due to the failure of the previous government to contain pollution,'' said Singh, who is the transport minister. Sirsa, who holds the Environment portfolio, said Delhi's air pollution crisis and subsequent action against overage vehicles are direct results of the AAP government's prolonged inaction. ''The NGT had, as early as 2014, directed the deregistration and ban of vehicles older than 15 years (petrol) and 10 years (diesel) in Delhi due to rising pollution levels. These orders were repeatedly ignored by the then AAP government. As a result, pollution worsened, and the courts had to intervene again in 2015, 2016, and 2018,'' he charged.

Had the NGT orders and Supreme Court ruling been acted upon in time, Delhi would not have reached this stage, the environment minister said. ''Unlike other metro cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai or Bengaluru, such harsh vehicular restrictions became necessary only in Delhi. That's because the previous regime failed to control pollution when it was still manageable,'' he said.

Sirsa alleged the AAP government neither safeguarded public health nor protected the interests of Delhi's vehicle owners. ''When AQI levels refused to drop, and pollution worsened year after year, the courts had to step in and enforce a blanket ban on such vehicles,'' the minister said.

The minister announced that the Rekha Gupta-led dispensation will soon approach CAQM to apprise it of the measures being taken by the government to tackle pollution in the city. ''We will present all facts...what steps we have taken, how enforcement is being implemented, and how we're cleaning up the air that was left to rot,'' said Sirsa.

AAP has denounced the ''abrupt'' directive to remove 60 lakh vehicles older than 10 years from Delhi's roads, describing it as a step designed to benefit automobile manufacturers at the expense of ordinary citizens.

Alleging collusion, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly, Atishi, demanded that the BJP reveal the amount of ''donations'' it has received from automobile companies for elections.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)