Delhi govt, Centre not done enough to curb pollution: Lovely

Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Friday alleged the Delhi and the central government have not done enough to curb pollution in the city and urged the administration to come up with a permanent solution for it.Lovely, along with other leaders, wore mask and onion garland to show the severity of air pollution and price rise while addressing a press conference here.

Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely on Friday alleged the Delhi and the central government have ''not done enough'' to curb pollution in the city and urged the administration to come up with a permanent solution for it.

Lovely, along with other leaders, wore mask and onion garland to show the severity of air pollution and price rise while addressing a press conference here. He said the government should focus on the issue of pollution throughout the year and the public transport in Delhi should be improved. ''The Delhi government doesn't act when opposition leaders talk about an issue, they act when the situation worsens and that too, they come up with temporary solutions... I believe the government should focus on the issue of pollution all year long,'' Lovely said.

Terming dust particles from construction sites as one of the major contributors to pollution in Delhi, Lovely said the life of a common man gets affected due to delays in infrastructure projects.

''One of the main reasons for pollution in Delhi is dust particles. Metro constructions are getting delayed by five years in Delhi. The same is happening with flyovers and other infrastructure projects. The public transport system has collapsed. Even a recent study suggested that 40 per cent of pollution in Delhi happens due to vehicular pollution,'' Lovely alleged. ''The Delhi and the central government should take responsibility for the worsening air quality in the city and the adjoining areas,'' he added. Lovely said every third child in Delhi was suffering from severe asthma and respiratory illness. He alleged that it was a matter of shame for both the governments that over 14,000 people had died due to respiratory illness in the past one year. Former MLA Mukesh Sharma said that in view of the extremely dangerous toxic air in the city, the Delhi Fire Service and the NDMC vehicles should be deployed in large numbers to sprinkle water on roads to control dust pollution.