Delhi Air Pollution: Minister Parvesh Verma Blames AAP Govt's 11 Years For City's Current Crisis
Verma's comments come amid on-going discussions on Delhi's deteriorating air quality in the Parliament.
Delhi's Minister for Water Parvesh Verma addressed the issue of rising air pollution in the national capital and alleged that Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not complete "even a single task" to reduce air pollution in the last 11 years.
He stated that the problem of air pollution is not something that arose in one year, it has been there since AAP was in power.
The minister further outlined a roster of tasks which needed to be worked upon over the last 11 years to tackle air pollution, such as removing mountains of garbage, repairing footpaths, e-waste management, cleaning the Yamuna river, cleaning roads and more. Of these, Verma claimed that the AAP government did not even complete a single task.
"For years, pollution has been increasing in Delhi, and if Arvind Kejriwal had done even a little bit of work, we would have had to do only the remaining work. Still, the misfortune is that Arvind Kejriwal has deceived the people of Delhi", Verma said.
He also highlighted that ever since the BJP government took over in Delhi from Feb. 20, 2025, the Chief Minister of Delhi Rekha Gupta and all the ministers have been out on Delhi's roads come up action plans of tackling air pollution.
"The Delhi government has been successful in every program", the minister remarked.
Verma's comments come amid on-going discussions on Delhi's deteriorating air quality in the Parliament.
Delhi AQI
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi-NCR has slipped to "hazardous" levels, posing a threat to the health of all those living in the region. With smog clouds refusing to release the national capital from their chokehold, many measures are in place to prevent people from absorbing impact or worsening the situation.
All construction and demolition activities are banned, including even linear public projects such as highways, roads, flyovers, power transmission lines, pipelines and telecom works, which are otherwise allowed in lower stages.
Schools are required to run classes in a hybrid mode (online and physical) not only for primary students but also for higher classes (VI to IX and XI) in Delhi and the most affected NCR districts, with students given the option to attend online where feasible.
Under Stage IV, state governments are asked to consider additional emergency steps, such as closing colleges and educational institutions, shutting non-essential commercial activities and even introducing odd-even rules for vehicles if the pollution situation worsens further.
