AAP MLA Atishi on Thursday said that the Air Quality Panel set up by the Centre to monitor Delhi's air pollution situation has neither an office space nor a personal office of the chairperson or any office staff.
The AAP leader said that this shows the reluctance of the Central government towards the issue of combating air pollution. Atishi said that the AAP demands that the Central government should immediately provide office space to the panel chairperson and also provide office staff for smooth action.
"In the view of the recent pollution condition in Delhi the Central government has formed a high power committee on 28th October. The central government got an ordinance signed by the president and a Commission For Air Quality Management in Delhi NCR and adjoining areas was formed. The commission, therefore, was formed because the Central Government is also cognizant of the fact that the factors causing pollution in Delhi are external. For the same, exclusive jurisdiction was given to this committee to take action on the same. This panel can direct the state government, state pollution control boards and also the Central Pollution Control Board," she added.
"With the increasing number of stubble burning cases in Punjab and Haryana there was a deepening in the air quality of Delhi. At the same time, with the number of stubble burning cases going down the air quality of Delhi improved. In view of this situation, we demanded that this panel should take immediate action against the CMs of Punjab and Haryana. We demanded that because the chief ministers of Punjab Haryana did not take any steps to stop stubble burning in their states and did not adopt the Pusa institute’s bio-decomposer technique to stop stubble burning, actions must be taken against the CMs."
Atishi said, "I want to request the Central Government that you should immediately provide office space to the air-quality commission along with office space for the chairperson of the commission and office staff for the commission to run day to day works."