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Eye on polls: Cong leader Sandeep Dikshit slams AAP for air, water pollution in Delhi

PTI |
Jan 18, 2025 07:21 PM IST

Eye on polls: Cong leader Sandeep Dikshit slams AAP for air, water pollution in Delhi

New Delhi, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Saturday blamed the A government for the air and water pollution in the national capital, claiming it did nothing over the past 10 years while in power in Delhi.

Eye on polls: Cong leader Sandeep Dikshit slams AAP for air, water pollution in Delhi
Eye on polls: Cong leader Sandeep Dikshit slams AAP for air, water pollution in Delhi

Addressing a press conference, Dikshit the Congress candidate from the New Delhi constituency for the February 5 Assembly polls claimed there were around 5,500 Delhi Transport Corporation buses in 2013, but the number has now reduced to around 3,000.

"In 2013, 43 lakh people used to commute in DTC buses, but today only 41 lakh people travel in DTC and cluster buses. The numbers should have increased to around 60-65 lakh, given the rise in population, but it has dropped to 41 lakh. If these surplus 20-25 lakh people are opting for private transport, it clearly adds to pollution levels," Dikshit said.

Dikshit also said that blaming stubble burning for Delhi's air pollution and placing the responsibility on farmers in neighbouring states was not justified.

"Stubble burning has existed for decades, but the main cause of Delhi’s air pollution is the sharp spike in the number of vehicles on the roads, the lack of a robust public transport system, and severe erosion of the green cover," he said.

Between 1998 and 2013, the Congress government, headed by Sheila Dikshit, had increased the green cover, brought nearly one crore vehicles under CNG fuel, including DTC buses, expanded public transport and rapidly expanded the Delhi Metro, he added.

"The public, sick of the air and water pollution, has now realised that only a Congress government can effectively tackle the toxic air and water. Kejriwal has been trying to cover up his incompetence and inaction through tutored data and blatant lies," Dikshit claimed.

Setting up of more gas-based power plants, first started by the Congress government in Bawana, was another step should be taken to combat air pollution, Dikshit added.

It was the responsibility of the Delhi government to clean up the air without giving excuses, though Kejriwal has only excuses to offer for the capital's toxic air, he said.

"The Yamuna river passing through Delhi, starting from Palla, was the most polluted stretch in the world as all the untreated human and other wastes are discharged into the river. Kejriwal Government had not bothered to setup sewage treatment plants, though he had boasted in 2023 that he would clean up the river so well that he would take a dip in it by 2025," Dikshit claimed.

Dikshit refuted Kejriwal's claim in a podcast that he increased sewage capacity in Delhi by 50 percent.

"In 1998-99, the total capacity of sewage treatment plants in Delhi was 360 MGD. When Congress lost Delhi in 2013, the capacity had increased to 613 MGD. In 2023, the total capacity was 632 MGD," he said.

"I blame the A government's mismanagement and dishonesty for the poisonous air and water in Delhi. It is due to their incompetence that public transportation has not been expanded in the capital," said the Congress leader, whose mother, the late Sheila Dikshit, was a three-term chief minister of Delhi .

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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