Delhi Air Pollution: India Gate Protests Pour Anger on Apathy

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While Delhi is battling acute air pollution crisis, city Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was seen busy in election campaigns in Bihar.

By TRH News Desk

New Delhi, November 9, 2205 — Hundreds of protestors on Sunday gathered at the India Gate in the national capital to protest against alarming air quality in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR). The people came with children to protest air pollution crisis in the Delhi NCR.

Protestors claimed that every third child had damaged lung due to air pollution crisis. They claimed that the elected government is not paying heed to the prevalent crisis.

A large number of small children, college students, elders, and other members of the civic society joined the protests. But the police detained the protestors, claiming that “India Gate is not a site to hold protests.” Protestors were packed into buses by the police. Even small children were pushed into the buses by the police personnel.

Protestors even claimed that the air quality index at several places is near 1000 level but the official reading is under-reporting the scale of air pollution crisis in the national capital. They alleged that the city government is shying away from declaring an air pollution emergency.

At the protest sites, leaders of the Congress, Left parties, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were also seen. AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj told reporters that it was heartening that the civic society is leading a protest for air quality.

Air quality in Delhi NCR worsened in the run up the Diwali festival with firecrackers allegedly adding to the crisis. The Supreme Court had allowed bursting of “green crackers” in a regulated manner. But Delhi NCR witnessed open flouting of the guidelines spelt out by the apex court for “green crackers.”

Since Diwali, the air pollution in Delhi NCR has only worsened as farmers in Punjab and Haryana began burning their farm residues as per the annual farming rituals. While Delhi is battling acute air pollution crisis, city Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was seen busy in election campaigns in Bihar.

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