New Delhi, Mar 15 (IANS): Senior Aam Aadmi Party legislator Atishi on Monday slammed the Centre for not tabling the Commission for Air Quality Management ordinance in the Parliament.
She said the Commission has become defunct in the last few months, but the BJP-led Central government did not take the matter seriously to resolve the air pollution in Delhi.
The AAP legislature from Kalkaji said that Delhi has two main sources of pollution - one which emanates from within the city and the other from the neighbouring states.
"The Delhi government has taken consistent steps to control pollution in the city. Even the Centre for Science and Environment has said that pollution in Delhi has reduced by 25 per cent. With adequate electricity, the dependency on generators has reduced. The electric vehicles policy launched recently is also one the measures introduced in this direction," she said.
She further said that Delhi has become the only state where thermal power plants are completely shut. "I would like to ask the Central government, what is it doing to control pollution generating from states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan? Why has the Central government not taken any step to control pollution," she asked.
"Some time ago, we discovered that ever since the Commission was formed, it has not been given any office space or any office staff. This shows how serious the Central government is when it comes to curbing pollution," Atishi said.
She further said that whenever an ordinance is brought forth, it must be tabled in the Parliament within six weeks of a session. "The Budget Session began on January 29, but no bill towards this has been presented yet, and thus the ordinance has lapsed," she said.
Delhi's air quality was in the poor category on Monday morning. Data from the Central Pollution Control Board showed that the hourly air quality index (AQI) at 7 am stood at 201. On Sunday, the average 24-hour AQI was 209. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 is moderate, 201-300 is poor, 301-400 is very poor, and 401-500 is severe.