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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday lambasted the government over rising air pollution in the national capital, stating that the 'severe' air quality levels were a matter of "national disgrace".
He said the failure of authorities to summon political will to resolve the pollution issue was "really shocking". "Delhi's air quality is a national disgrace. I've been talking about it. Personally, at my own expense, I conducted a roundtable on air pollution for 10 years in Delhi before giving up any hope that this government is going to implement it. It is a really, really disgraceful situation," Tharoor told ANI. Tharoor said that along with people suffering due to pollution, the sporting competitions were also being affected. "I feel so sad for all my fellow Delhiites who are going through all of this right now. Even cricket teams don't want to play in Delhi this season because of the foul air. Other sporting competitions are being affected. People are pulling out. It's really, really shocking that the authorities can't summon the political will to solve this problem," the Congress leader said. As pollution levels in the national capital meddle between "very poor" and "severe" categories, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the public health crisis was "even worse" in parts of north India. He called for an urgent revamp of the National Clean Air Programme that was initiated nearly eight years ago. "The top three most polluted cities in India going by the monthly average PM2.5 concentration were in Uttar Pradesh--Baraut in Baghpat district, Khora in Ghaziabad district and Gajraula in Amroha district," Ramesh posted on X, citing a detailed analysis published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The Congress MP said 13 cities in UP, 11 cities in Haryana, three in Gujarat and two each in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan exceeded the national ambient air quality standard for PM2.5 (24-hour mean), which is four times the WHO safety level. "The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) were last promulgated in November 2009. They were acknowledged to be very progressive thenbut now they need to be updated, especially the safe limits for PM2.5 concentrations," he added. Delhi continues to grapple with hazardous air pollution, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded at 389 for the entire city, categorised as 'Very Poor', as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at 8 AM. The Municipal authorities deploy truck-mounted water sprinklers to undertake water sprinkling operations as per the Stage-II Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP-II) enforced across India Gate. (ANI)
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