Capital chokes: As smog thickens blame deepens

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta to take steps to “clear the filthy smog” in the Capital. The Congress leader has returned to Delhi after campaigning in poll-bound Bihar. Earlier, she had travelled to her Lok Sabha constituency, Wayanad, in Kerala.

In a post on social media platform X, Priyanka compared the air quality in Delhi to that in Wayanad. “Returning to the Delhi air from Wayanad first, then Bachwara in Bihar is truly shocking,” she said, adding that pollution had enveloped the Capital “like a grey shroud.”

Priyanka also urged all political leaders to join hands “regardless of their political compulsions and do something about it.” The Wayanad MP said the Union and State Governments “need to act immediately” on the matter, while assuring that everyone would “support and cooperate with whatever actions they choose to take to mitigate this awful situation.”

She highlighted that those with respiratory issues, children commuting to school daily, and senior citizens need “urgent intervention.” “Year after year, the citizens of Delhi are subjected to this toxicity with no recourse,” she added.

Air quality in the national Capital has dipped over the past couple of weeks, with AQI readings in key areas ranging from ‘very poor’ to ‘severe category’. Delhi’s air quality worsened on Sunday as weak winds trapped pollutants, raising the overall AQI to 366 in the “very poor” category with three monitoring stations recording readings above 400 in the “severe” category, Centre Pollution Control Board data showed.

Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva slammed the Congress leader, saying it's surprising to see that after almost 2 decades of Delhiites suffering from acute pollution, Congress leader Priyanka Vadra has today woken up to raise the issue of pollution in Delhi.

Delhi BJP President has said that it's surprising that Priyanka never spoke up about Delhi’s pollution situation during the rule of her party or Aam Aadmi Party’s misrule in Delhi but has chosen to comment through a social media post when the BJP government is working round the clock to address pollution.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary in charge (Communications), Jairam Ramesh, criticised the winter cloud-seeding experiment conducted by the BJP-led government in Delhi. while referring to it as a “cruel joke”.

“The Delhi Govt has spent INR 34 crore on a winter cloud seeding experiment to improve air quality,” Ramesh said on X. He said that the Union Minister of State of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change in December last year had told the Rajya Sabha that three specialised agencies had “clearly advised against” winter cloud seeding to improve air quality in Delhi. These agencies were the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCT, the Central Pollution Control Board, and the Indian Meteorological Department, Ramesh said.He further highlighted a detailed report from the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at IIT Delhi on the subject, which was released on Friday (October 31). Ramesh said the report “makes it clear that winter cloud seeding will not help improve the atrocious air quality in Delhi in any significant manner.”