New Delhi: Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Kumar said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal,
who has been playing the blame-game for the past seven years for Delhi’s dangerous air pollution without addressing core issues like traffic and dust pollution generated within Delhi, is once again indulging in gimmicks by inviting suggestions from the public for framing a pollution-control policy for taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber, and delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, to encourage them to shift to electric vehicles. He said that Chief Minister Arvind has been fooling the people with his theatrics on pollution control as posting marshals at over 100 traffic signals across the city with placards “Red Light On, Gaddi Off” was a waste of money as the drive made no impact in pollution control.
Kumar said that CM Arvind Kejriwal had always blamed the farmers of neighbouring States like Punjab for Delhi’s pollution due to stubble-burning without admitting the fact that vehicular traffic was the biggest source of air pollution in Delhi, and the ideal way to reduce the number of private vehicles on the roads was to improve public transport by introducing more and more electric vehicles. He said that sadly, the Arvind Kejriwal Government could deploy in his seven-year tenure just one electric DTC bus on the road, in January this year, with the promise that more electric vehicles would be deployed in the next two years, though Arvind is notorious for making hollow promises without fulfilling any of them.
He said that the Arvind Kejriwal Government was creating charging stations for electric vehicles without making a compulsory rule for turning all public vehicles into electric, and reducing private vehicles on the roads. He said that presently, Delhi boasts of the maximum number of private vehicles among all the metros in the country. He said that yet, Delhi’s Transport Minister, Kailash Ghelot, claimed that attempts were being made to introduce electric vehicles in Delhi quickly, to fulfill the ‘vision’ of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind.
Kumar said that Chief Minister Arvind was least concerned about the dangerous air and water pollution in Delhi, the Covid-19 pandemic devastation, unemployment and economic ruin, as he has been busy in election campaigns in other States, without finding solutions to the pressing problems of Delhi.
He said that the Arvind Government and the BJP-ruled Municipal Corporations were indulging in rhetoric in the name of pollution control with a view on the upcoming MCD elections in mind, as in the past seven years, under the Arvind Government, Delhi’s green cover depleted sharply while air pollution levels soared. He said that the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party Governments have done nothing to control air pollution in the Capital. He said that BJP’s move to plant 1 lakh saplings under the “Green Delhi Challenge” campaign was a mere eye-wash, like all its other promises, as both the BJP and AAP were incompetent to tackle difficult issues.
Kumar said that there was massive corruption in the Arvind Government’s move to give purchase and maintenance contracts for new DTC buses, as Arvind’s sole aim now seems to make illegal financial gains from all Government dealings, whether it was in buying buses for DTC or introducing a new Excise Policy, or spending money for Covid control. He said that Arvind’s heart is no more with Delhi, as after having milked Delhi tax payers’ money in various corrupt deals, he has set his sights on other States to extend his corrupt reign.
