Don’t link crackers with religion: Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai

The environment minister also asked the Central government on Wednesday to issue an advisory banning stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh

Equating bursting crackers with playing with the lives of people, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday asked political parties to not weaken the government’s fight against air pollution by linking firecrackers with religion.

Referring to the government’s anti-firecracker campaign, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said so far, more than 13,000 kgs of firecrackers had been seized from markets and individuals, with 33 people arrested so far. (ANI File)

The minister said each and every citizen had the right to breathe clean air, and asked residents to support the fight against pollution by only lighting diyas during the festival. He also asked people to join the Delhi government for its Diwali celebration at the Thyagaraj stadium on Thursday.

“There are many issues to do politics on and the people of Delhi have given the opportunity to everyone, to do politics on work. But my request is to let people breathe,” said Rai, adding that the whole of Delhi had fought the fight against air pollution together, due to which the air in October this year was the cleanest in the last few years.

“If we were to look at the pollution statistics of the past five years, it is for the first time that pollution levels are this low a day before Diwali. According to the criteria of the air quality index, the month of October saw an average AQI of 284 in 2017, 269 in 2018, 234 in 2019, and 265 in 2020. But this past month, in 2021, the average AQI was 173. There are two reasons for this reduction – first the weather, secondly the people of Delhi for helping the government fight against pollution,” Rai said.

The environment minister also asked the Central government on Wednesday to issue an advisory banning stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh: “At least on the occasion of Diwali, the practice could be stopped so people could celebrate the festival in a relatively cleaner air.”

Referring to the government’s anti-firecracker campaign, Rai said so far, more than 13,000 kgs of firecrackers had been seized from markets and individuals, with 33 people arrested so far.

“Diwali is a festival of happiness, but people are still bursting crackers in secrecy. Even last year, we observed that many people had secretly distributed firecrackers due to their stubbornness. I appeal to everyone that in this fight for Delhi, if everyone has fought together and the weather has favoured us enough to have the lowest pollution levels in five years, please cooperate in making it a clean Diwali too,” he said.