New Delhi: After the release of the World Air Quality Report 2023, Delhi L-G VK Saxena on Wednesday (March 20) wrote to Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal drawing his attention to the report “painting a grim picture” of the air quality in the national capital. “It raises a red flag over the abnormally high PM 2.5 levels, two-fifths of which is attributable to vehicular emission. I am sure that you are aware that prolonged exposure to particulate matter of this dimension leads to premature deaths in people, triggers lung disease, leads to a host of respiratory diseases,” the Delhi L-G pointed out.
Also Read: India, Bangladesh, And Pakistan Bottom In Air Quality Rankings In 2023, Reports
L-G Saxena further highlighted in his letter that there are regular reports of increased admissions in the city hospitals with children and the elderly suffering the most from respiratory ailments.
Calling it a “public health emergency”, the L-G emphasised that this contravenes the very basic natural and fundamental right of the people of Delhi.
The L-G further said that Chief Minister Kejriwal must take responsibility and take definitive steps and bold measures.
“Your ministers obfuscate the issue by engaging in a farcical exercise of emergency measures, lip service and media byte,” he lashed out.
Citing global examples the L-G said,
The Great Smog of London and the grey skies of Beijing got cleaned up with the determined leadership.
Addressing the same issue, Delhi’s Environment Minister Gopal Rai said,
The pollution levels in the national capital have been decreasing consistently. From 2015 till 2023, there has been a decrease in levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5. After 2015, last year we had 206 days of better air quality.
Meanwhile, the initiative of sprinkling water was taken in the national capital as a measure to curb air pollution.
Also Read: Air Pollution: Centre Withdraws All GRAP Measures From Delhi-NCR
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
