Delhi a ‘Gas Chamber’, Tamil Nadu Victim of “Financial Pollution”: P. Wilson’s Powerful Attack in Parliament

New Delhi News (03 December, 2025): In a hard-hitting address in the Rajya Sabha, DMK MP P. Wilson launched a sharp attack on the Union Government, raising concerns over democracy in Manipur, Delhi’s severe air emergency and the long-pending central dues owed to Tamil Nadu. He opened by stating that Manipur was “on ventilator” and demanded immediate elections to restore democratic governance instead of keeping the Assembly under prolonged suspension.

Invoking the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Wilson said the law’s original spirit should guide India today, as pollution had become a national emergency rather than a statutory issue. He described Delhi as a “gas chamber” and reminded Parliament that throughout 2025, not a single day met WHO’s safe air standards. He pointed out that more than 17,000 annual deaths in Delhi are linked to toxic air, with life expectancy reduced by over eight years, and that between 2022 and 2024 hospitals recorded more than two lakh acute respiratory cases associated with pollution.

Wilson stressed that stubble burning was only a small chapter in the crisis and argued that the daily realities of traffic congestion, vehicular emissions and extreme centralization of governance in Delhi were the primary drivers of the capital’s pollution. He questioned why governance in 2025 continued to operate on a 1950 model and urged reconsideration of holding Parliament’s winter sessions during peak smog months. There was, he insisted, no constitutional requirement mandating that every authority must sit only in Delhi.

He urged the government to decongest the capital by establishing regional benches of the Supreme Court in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, shifting tribunal headquarters to other states and relocating ministries and statutory bodies across the country to spread administrative load.

Wilson then raised the issue of the Hogenakkal Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation Project, noting that Phase-III—meant to benefit 38.81 lakh people—remained in limbo despite oral assurances from the National Jal Jeevan Mission and a formal request made by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on 14 November 2025.

The DMK MP strongly criticised what he termed “financial pollution” created by the Union Government by withholding substantial dues meant for Tamil Nadu. He highlighted that ₹3,112.06 crore under the Jal Jeevan Mission was yet to be released, alongside ₹2,670.64 crore already spent by the state on paddy procurement, rice fortification and subsidies for ragi and sugar. He further noted that ₹3,548.22 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan also remained pending. He questioned how funds tied to children’s fundamental rights could be withheld simply because Tamil Nadu had chosen not to follow a non-binding National Education Policy.

Appealing through the Chair, Wilson urged the Prime Minister to immediately release all dues owed to Tamil Nadu and end the financial bottleneck affecting key developmental projects. He concluded by stating that the Union Government must lift this “financial pollution” and ensure justice to the people of his state.