The AAP Government in Delhi on Wednesday asked the Centre not to make deteriorating air pollution of the city a political issue. A day after Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had said that Delhi will have to act on pollution, Environment Minister Asim Ahmed Khan on Wednesday stated that the it "should not become a subject of political wrangling". He also stated that the neighbouring States — Haryana and Uttar Pradesh — are equally responsible for polluting Delhi.
Javadekar on Tuesday had stated that the Delhi Government will have to act on pollution and assured his Ministry's complete support. "It is the responsibility of the Delhi Government to come up with the action plan as soon as possible. It will have to work as people can see garbage all around the city and sewerage is also not being treated properly," Javadekar said.
Reacting to Javadekar's statement, Khan said that checking air pollution must be treated on priority by all the concerned authorities and should not become a subject of political wrangling. In his letter to Javadekar, Khan pointed out that an action plan to improve air quality in the national Capital as recommended by a high-power committee headed by the then Chief Secretary of Delhi was sent to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in February.
"This action plan was limited to the areas in which the Delhi Government can check the rise of air pollution. This action plan specifically focused on short-term and long-term measures to control air pollution in the national Capital," he wrote to the Centre.
Khan pointed out that a follow-up of this action plan, the concerned departments, including the Delhi Development Authority, municipal corporations, New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Police "have been requested to prepare time-bound implementation plans. The concerned departments are working on the action points identified for them."
Khan has requested the Union Minister to convene a meeting of various stakeholders in the National Capital Region: "Several towns of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh fall within the NCR and may I request you to ask them to set-up joint check posts well within their territories to ensure that overloaded vehicles can be checked and turned back before they enter Delhi and prepare an action plan on the lines of the one under preparation in Delhi."