MPs, top babus skip key Parl panel meet

NEW DELHI: Only four MPs of a 28-member parliamentary panel attended a key meeting to discuss the air pollution crisis in Delhi-NCR on Friday, with the absentees including East Delhi parliamentarian Gautam Gambhir.

Top officials of the environment ministry, DDA and municipal commissioners also stayed away from the deliberations.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development had called the meeting with top officials of various government departments to discuss the air pollution in Delhi and the measures required to reduce it.

As many as 24 MPs from various parties did not attend the meeting, but the absence of Gambhir, the lone BJP leader from Delhi in the committee, snowballed into a political row as the AAP hit out at the saffron party over the issue and questioned its seriousness in tackling the crisis.

As many as 24 parliamentarians from various parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, did not attend the meeting.

The MPs who attended the meeting were AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, BJP’s Jagdambika Pal who heads the panel, CR Patil of the saffron party and Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference.

According to sources, the members of the panel who attended the meeting were extremely upset with the absence of the environment secretary, the DDA chairman and officials of the three municipal corporations of the national capital and planning to raise the issue with the Lok Sabha Speaker.