Kejriwal politicising pollution: Javadekar
NEW DELHI: Union environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, on Friday slammed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for politicising the issue of air pollution.
Kejriwal had tweeted on Friday morning that “Delhi has turned into a gas chamber due to smoke from crop burning in neighbouring states.”
Javadekar said it is the Modi government that has led the air pollution curbing policies. “For 15 years, there was only discussion on eastern and western peripheral expressways. The Modi government managed to complete the construction of the expressways in five years. The construction of the eastern peripheral expressway has led to over 60,000 vehicles bypassing Delhi, reducing air pollution.”
“Delhi chief minister is politicising the pollution issue and engaging in blame game on air pollution. I will not stoop to that level. Blame game can get you kachchi chitthi (several fake encomiums) but not real relief from pollution. Curbing pollution is everyone’s responsibility. We need support from industries, people and farmers,” he said, at an event to flag off electric vehicles procured by the ministry of information and broadcasting.
Kejriwal said, “We admit there are local sources of pollution in Delhi. They include vehicles, construction and industrial activities. But we, as a government, have taken adequate measures to address pollution from local sources. Odd-even would be one such example. But, at this stage, stubble burning is the biggest threat. The Centre and states concerned have to do something about it. Why do they always evade talks on controlling stubble burning?”
Delhi’s environment minister, Kailash Gahlot, said, “So far, we have thrice received a notice from the Union environment minister for meetings, but on all three occasions, the meetings were cancelled.”