New Delhi, April 7: Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Minister for Environment, Forest and Wildlife in Delhi, on Sunday highlighted the efforts being initiated by the BJP government to curb air pollution in the national capital.

In a post on social media platform X, Delhi minister Sirsa wrote, “Following the Viksit Delhi Sankalp of PM Narendra Modi Ji… we are working to bring life back into Delhi. Watch our on-ground dust mitigation efforts… because clean air isn’t a luxury, it’s a right.”

Days before, a CAG report recommended that the Delhi Government should immediately address the issue of shortage of 2,250 public transport buses and complement it with last-mile connectivity options to arrest the deteriorating air quality in the national Capital due to vehicular emissions.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, tabled by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in the Assembly, said the Government should do route rationalisation as a priority to use the existing fleet optimally.

Suggesting route rationalisation to use the existing bus fleet optimally, the CAG report said that the skills of the existing repair and maintenance staff need to be matched to the operational buses by training them and applying their services suitably for proper upkeep and maintenance of the vehicles.

The CAG report said that because of a shortage of public transport buses, 238 out of 657 notified bus routes were completely unserved.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses had altogether stopped providing NCR connectivity. Further, the number of Gramin-Sewa Vehicles for last-mile connectivity has also remained the same since May 2011, said the report of the central government auditor.

Expressing concern over inadequate checking of polluting vehicles entering Delhi's border, the CAG said there were 128 entry points from where vehicles enter the UT.

“Out of these, 80 per cent of the commercial vehicles enter Delhi from 13 entry points,” it said.

The audit, however, observed that enforcement teams were being deployed at only seven entry points in the national Capital. “Besides shortage of staff, the enforcement teams did not have vehicle-mounted PUC equipment to check visibly polluting vehicles,” the report said.

Earlier, Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of intentionally worsening Delhi's air pollution to harm the image of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He claimed that since the BJP assumed power in Delhi, significant progress has been made in reducing pollution levels.

In a video message posted on X, Sirsa remarked, “Since the BJP took charge in Delhi, we have been consistently working to reduce pollution, and we have been successful. Air quality is improving every year, with many days being cleaner. We have broken records over the last three years, something that is clearly not sitting well with the Aam Aadmi Party.”

He further accused the AAP of resorting to extreme tactics to disrupt the city's air quality.

“It saddens me to say this, but the AAP has sunk so low that they are now gathering trash inside parks and setting it on fire. I have shared a video of this incident. This is being done with the sole intention of making the air polluted and defaming the BJP,” Sirsa added.

--IANS

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