NEW DELHI: West Delhi MP and senior BJP leader Parvesh Verma during the question hour of Parliament on Monday criticised the city government for not being able to tackle the city’s air pollution crisis while praising the steps taken by the Centre to curb the same.
In the question hour notice, Verma citing an RTI response alleged that while the government made much hype about the bio-decomposer spray (a solution which turns crop stubble into manure over a period of 20 days), it purchased it merely for Rs 40,000 while spending Rs 23 lakh in its distribution and Rs 5 Crore on its advertising alone.
However, when sought a response, the government officials did not comment. Verma added that departments responsible for pollution control such as industries, transport etc directly under the government avoid all responsibility of the same and put the blame entirely on stubble burning issue in Punjab.
The government tied up with the Indian Agriculture Research Institute in 2020 to develop a bio-decomposer capsule to organically decompose stubble, which it claimed last year to be sprayed across 4000 acres of farm fields in Delhi.
The MP listed out the steps taken by the Centre to curb emissions including the construction of highways such as the Sonipat highway and Dwarka expressway, among others which he said helped lead the traffic away from Delhi and thereby reduce pollution.