NEW DELHI: The central government has taken several steps to address the issue of air pollution in Delhi, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday. He also took a jibe at the Delhi’s AAP-led government for taking credit for the work done by the Centre.
Responding to a question during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Javadekar said air pollution in Delhi is the “most serious problem”, and noted that the air quality along the Indo-Gangetic belt is poor. “The Centre has taken a number of steps to address the problem of Delhi’s air pollution which is why the pollution level in Delhi is less than earlier years,” he said.
A recent report by Swiss organisation, IQAir, in the form of the ‘World Air Quality Report, 2020’ states that 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are in India, with Delhi being ranked the most polluted capital city globally. The report, however, shows that Delhi’s air quality improved by approximately 15 per cent from 2019 to 2020.
Without naming Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Javadekar said, “There are some people in Delhi, who have no contribution towards it, are running for credit and giving advertisements in newspapers that pollution has come down by 15 per cent.”
He said the Centre got Piped Natural Gas (PNG) for 3,000 industries in Delhi. It also transformed 3,000 brick kilns using zig-zag technology to bring down pollution levels, Javadekar added.