Declare “Air Emergency” till the hazardous pollution levels in Delhi is brought down—Ajay Maken writes letter to Arvind Kejriwal
· Declare “Air Emergency” till the hazardous pollution levels in Delhi is brought down—Ajay Maken writes letter to Arvind Kejriwal.
· Colleges, Government and private offices, excluding emergency, health and sanitation services, should be closed down—Ajay Maken.
· Delay in the completion of Phase III Metro project adds to pollution woes as the rider capacity in the metro has not increased, and people are forced to use private vehicles.
· Only 22 Km out of planned 156 km Metro started and the deadline of September 2016 is over—Ajay Maken.
· Public transport system is in a mess due to depleted DTC fleet a reduction of 1100 buses from 5445 buses in 2013—Ajay Maken.
· Make the 1370 MW Bawana gas power plant fully operational and shut down 705 MW Badarpur Thermal Power Plant.
NEW DELHI, Nov. 7—Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Shri Ajay Maken has demanded that the Delhi Government should immediately declare “Air Emergency”, till the hazardous pollution levels in Delhi is brought down, in addition to the short-term measures already announced by the Delhi Government. He said today was the eighth consecutive day when PM 2.5 levels have crossed 800 mark, whereas, as per the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency standards, once the air quality index enters the 151-200 mark, a red alert is declared. Shri Maken said as part of the Delhi Government’s short-term plans to tackle air pollution, it should also declare holidays for colleges, Government and private offices, leaving out emergency, health and sanitation services.
Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan, here today, Shri Maken said China had declared a “red alert” when the air pollution levels exceeded the 500AQI (Air Quality Index) mark in December, 2015 in Beijing and parts of the Hebei province. Shri Maken said the Delhi Government should also undertake similar kind of measures adopted by the US Environmental Protection Agency and determine realistic Air Quality Level Index for Delhi and announce a threshold limit such as Red Alert, Purple Alert, Maroon Alert and Air Emergency, as has been done by the US, so that the Delhi Government does not have to rush for holding Cabinet meetings when air pollutions levels go beyond control, so that the Government is “prepared” to tackle such situations. Others present at the press conference were chief spokesperson Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee, spokesperson PujaBahri, Shri Aman Panwar, Municiapl Councillors Abhishek Dutt, RinkuJayanth, IshratJehan, Prerna Singh and Aale Mohammed, DPCC RTI cell chairman Ved Pal and senior leader Shri Chattar Singh.
Shri Maken said the Congress party will support the steps announced by the Central Government and the AamAadmi Party Government in Delhi for tackling air pollution. Shri Maken, however, said that short-term measures announced by the AAP Government are knee-jerk reaction which would not bring a lasting solution in tackling the pollution levels in Delhi. He said various factors such as the DMRC missing the deadline for completion of the third phase of the metro construction, depletion of the DTC fleets and not utilizing the full-capacity of the Bawana power plant run on gas, have contributed to the increasing levels of air pollution in Delhi. He said with public transport like metro and DTC falling short of expectation in ridership, more and more people are forced to use private transports, including two-wheelers, which has contributed to the increasing levels of air pollution after Diwali.
Shri Ajay Maken demanded that the Government should ban 10-year-old diesel vehicles as well as vehicles above 2000cc from Delhi roads. He said the Government, which has banned construction activity to tackle air pollution, should also ban the entry of vehicles carrying construction material to Delhi.
Shri Maken said when the National Green Tribunal banned vehicles above 2000cc, the Delhi Government approached the Supreme Court and got an order passed for the exemption of 2000cc vehicles in Delhi by imposing green tax. He said the NGT order was thus diluted but if air pollution levels have to be controlled, then all vehicles of 2000cc and above should be banned from Delhi roads.
Shri Maken said one of the major factors for the contribution of the air pollution is the delay in the completion of the Phase III project of the Delhi metro, which was given sanction by the Central Government in September, 2011. He said under the phase III project, 156km were to be completed by September 2016, but shockingly only 22km have been completed by now, and the manner in which the Delhi Government is working, the Phase III project of metro will not be completed before 2017. He said had the Phase III project been completed as scheduled, the ridership of the metro would have gone up from the present 30 lakh passengers per day to 45 lakh passengers per day. He said for the first time, the metro project was behind schedule on account of the Delhi Goverment’s failure to acquire land for the metro projects. He said that it is also important to mention that most of the land which is to be acquired for the metro falls under Delhi Government departments such as Delhi Urban Improvement Board and the Slum.
Shri Maken said the Delhi Government’s decision to close down the BadarpurTermal Power Plant for 10 days is not a long-term solution as the demand for power is the lowest in November, which would peak in the month of January when winter will be at its coldest, and schools would be fully operational after winter breaks. He wondered why the 705 mega watt installed capacity thermal power plant is not being permanently shut, and make the 1370 mega watt gas turbine at Bawana fully operational, as the power plant run on gas would be pollution-free. He said presently, the Bawana plant produces only 250 to 298 mega watt. Shri Maken said that it is very surprising that why the Delhi Government is not demanding more gas from Central Government for running the Bawana gas turbine in its full capacity, whereas the Kejriwal Government is in the habit of writing to the Modi Government and the Lt. Governor on each and every issue.
Shri Maken said similiarly, the depleted fleet of DTC and reduced route capitalization have also contributed to air pollution, which encouraged the use of private transport. He said while on the one hand, when Congress was in power, the DTC ridership was 46.77 lakh per day in 2012-2013 which came down to 43.09 per day in January 2016. He said as per official figures, the number of kilometers daily covered by the DTC buses in Delhi got reduced by 2070 Kms between Nov. 2014 and January 2016. And the fleet utilization, which was 85.29 in 2015, came down to 67.87 in January 2016. The operational ratio, which was 80.92 in April 2015, fell to 77.16 per cent in January 2016. Shri Ajay Maken said the fleet utilization should have been 100 per cent, as the entire fleet of the DTC should have been put to optimum use for commuting the passengers, which has not happened.Shri Maken said the statistics available prove that the AAP Government has not only failed to improve public transport, but there was also a drastic slump in the DTC fleet, and the available buses have not been fully utilized. He said when the Congress was in power, in December 2013, DTC had a fleet of 5445, which came down to 4461 in January 2016 during the AAP Government regime—a shortfall 1100 buses. He said even if the AAP Government wants to add to the DTC fleet, it does not have the holding capacity for buses as the Millennium Bus Depot, with a holding capacity of 1100 buses, would have to be shut on court orders while the Government has not constructed any new bus depot.
Shri Maken said when Congress was in power in Delhi for 15 years, it did not indulge in empty rhetorics, but delivered. He said when the Supreme Court ordered the Delhi Government for conversion of transport vehicles into CNG, the Congress Government, instead asking for any exemption from the court, converted one lakh vehicles into CNG between 1998 to 2003. Due to this CNG initiative, the Delhi Government was awarded “Clean Cities International Award” from the US department of Energey, and the UN Clean City Award fro environment.
Shri Maken said the then Delhi Chief Minister Smt. Sheila Dikshit, on 25th July, 2013 launched a campaign under which 15 lakh saplings were to be planted across the city under the greet city initiatives. He said Eco Clubs were setup in 1883 schools and 134 colleges to sensitize the younger generation towards environment conservation. He said there was 26- square km green cover in 1997 during the BJP regime which went up to 310 square kilometres during the Congress regime in Delhi.
