Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and National Spokesperson Raghav Chadha on Wednesday said the inaction of the BJP-led government in neighbouring Haryana is a prime cause for Delhi's increasing pollution and the resulting poor Air Quality Index (AQI).
Chadha also spoke about how despite EPCA enforcing the Graded Response Action Plan, Haryana has refused to ban diesel gensets, furthering air pollution.
On 8 October 2020, EPCA Chief Bhure Lal wrote to the Chief Secretary of Haryana government regarding the urgent implementation of GRAP, he said, adding that as per the letter the use of diesel generator sets will be banned in Delhi and in vicinity such as Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida in UP and Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana.
"In 2019, the states of UP and Haryana had informed EPCA that they will put in the required measures by winter 2020 so that electricity from the grid can be supplied without disruptions in these areas, which would then obviate the need for diesel generators, he said.
Chadha said, "As GRAP will come into force from 15 October, the use of diesel gensets will be banned in the regions of Delhi-NCR. While Delhi government has dutifully followed the rules set forth by EPCA, our neighbours in Haryana don't seem to want to take any action.
Their government has written 'distress letters' to EPCA repeatedly, saying that they can't enforce the ban in their state. They tell the Supreme Court-constituted body called EPCA that Gurugram and Faridabad several thousand homes that don't get electricity, that these homes are wholly dependent on diesel gensets, which is why a ban won't be conducive."
The national spokesperson also spoke about how because the Haryana government had failed to provide electricity to its residents, the latter have been compelled to resort to an unnatural and extremely polluting form of electricity. "In my understanding, this is a failure on part of the Haryana government, who could not give its residents in the hugely populous cities of Gurugram and Faridabad supply of electricity, and compel the use of gensets," he said.
Delhi's AQI is becoming poorer by the day. In June 2020, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board had sought an extension of three months to comply with National Green Tribunal's order regarding retrofitting of diesel gensets, he said.
"Following non-compliance with that order, and in a meeting held with Central Pollution Control Board in September, another three-month extension was sought. Now we need to realise how potentially dangerous this is; we're already battling the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.