High-level meeting at 1pm to tackle spiking air pollution: Delhi deputy CM

Manish Sisodia says he convened the meeting to ensure the city administration deals with the problem on a “warfooting”. He also described the air pollution as a serious health crisis.

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia called a high-level meeting at 1pm on Tuesday to tackle with spiking air pollution, which has touched alarming levels in the past two days.

A blanket of smog enveloped Delhi on Monday morning, a day after Diwali. (Ajay Aggarwal/ HT photo)

In a tweet, Sisodia said he convened the meeting to ensure the city administration deals with the problem on a “warfooting”. He also described the air pollution as a serious health crisis.

Delhiites have woken up to a blanket of smog and haze enveloping the city for two mornings now after heavy cracker burning. HT’s air-quality monitoring system shows a “severe” reading – the worst possible on the scale – for many points in the city with important thoroughfares such as Punjabi Bagh, RK Puram, Shantipath and Anand Vihar showing a maximum reading of 500.

Sisodia’s remark comes a day after his colleague and health minister Satyendra Jain thanked Delhiites for what he described as a fall in cracker burning. The Aam Aadmi Party government has been criticized by experts for not doing enough to counter rising air pollution that can cause a raft of respiratory diseases and even cancer.