'BJP controls police…it wanted crackers': AAP minister Gopal Rai on 'severe' Delhi pollution
A day after Diwali, the city's air quality entered the severe zone yet again, posing a health hazard to the people of Delhi and its adjoining areas.
New Delhi: Delhi minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party for the national capital's 'severe' air quality index, claiming its leaders were promoting the bursting of crackers despite the Supreme Court's ban. He said Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh's police forces were in the party's control but they failed to stop the sale and bursting of crackers in the national capital region.
A day after Diwali, the city's air quality entered the severe zone yet again, posing a health hazard to the people of Delhi and its adjoining areas.
"The BJP is trying to hide its mistakes. I have heard the statements of many BJP leaders recently and all of them are trying to hush up their statements in different ways. There was no festival yesterday, so why were the firecrackers bursting yesterday? Where did they come from? A BJP leader said that the AAP government failed to stop firecrackers. You have Delhi Police. SC had imposed the ban. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana Police are in your hands, then who has failed? This means you wanted crackers to burst," Gopal Rai said.
He added that the Delhi government has implemented the anti-pollution GRAP-4 measures.
"We had decided yesterday that the rules of Grap-4 will still be applicable. The campaign of water sprinkling will start at 12 noon today. The dust particles must be suppressed. The ban on vehicles will continue for now," he added.
BJP attacks Arvind Kejriwal
Meanwhile, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla attacked chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and blamed Punjab for the pollution.
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"Once again, Delhi has become a gas chamber today... Arvind Kejriwal used to blame stubble burning in Punjab as the main reason in 2018... Nearly 2600 cases of stubble burning have occurred in Punjab in the last two days. What did the AAP government do in Punjab to stop this?... The main reasons for pollution in Delhi are internal... What was done for vehicular pollution and to control dust?" he said.
Congress slams AAP, BJP
The Congress blamed both BJP and AAP for pollution.
"BJP and AAP are busy playing the blame game while people of Delhi are suffocating. Both of them are responsible for this. Crackers that release a lot of smoke were burst (during Diwali). Maintaining law and order (in Delhi) is the responsibility of the central government. What was it doing?" said Pramod Tiwari.
With inputs from PTI, ANI
