At the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) monthly meeting on Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors held a powerful demonstration inside the House, wearing black masks to highlight the city’s worsening pollution crisis. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ankush Narang said that despite a so-called ‘four-engine’ BJP government, Delhi’s air has turned poisonous, forcing citizens to breathe suffocating air while children and the elderly fall ill, yet both the BJP government and the MCD administration remain silent.
“When the Aam Aadmi Party demanded a discussion in the House on this serious issue, BJP Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh chose to escape public questioning by adjourning the session and running away,” the MCD LoP said. “When the air itself is poisoned, what is the use of the BJP’s politics?”
AAP LoP in MCD House Ankush Narang stated, “The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi has touched 700 and continues to remain above 400. Three out of every four families are suffering from illnesses. Problems like cough, cold, viral fever, stomach ache, and loose motion have become common. Plastic particles are entering people’s lungs. On average, every Delhiite is forced to inhale pollution equivalent to smoking 15.5 cigarettes a day. In areas like Timarpur, AQI levels are consistently above 700, and this is the very ward from where Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh comes.”
Slamming the government’s inaction, he continued, “Delhi’s four-engine BJP government has no concrete plan to stop or control pollution, and this is a matter of shame. When Arvind Kejriwal was the Chief Minister, water sprinklers used to run on Public Works Department (PWD) roads throughout the day. During the Aam Aadmi Party’s time in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), sprinklers operated in every area, but this time, they are nowhere to be seen. Now, the government only sprays water in front of AQI monitors, cleans the area, manipulates data, and shows fake readings.”
“Delhi is now under a fake-report government that shows false data on malaria, chikungunya, dengue, and pollution. It even gives misleading reports about waterlogging. Today, a short notice discussion on pollution was listed in the House, but instead of addressing it, Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh walked out. Is this the right approach? Delhi’s residents are struggling to breathe, plastic particles are entering their bodies, pollution levels are soaring, yet the government doesn’t even want to talk about it,” he asserted.
Demanding accountability, the MCD House LoP said, “Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh should resign immediately. A mayor who cannot keep his own ward clean, cannot prevent waterlogging, flooding, or pollution, has no moral right to remain in office.”
Criticising the state leadership, he said, “Chief Minister Rekha Gupta should be ashamed for misleading Delhi’s innocent citizens with false promises. She said there would be no pollution, yet pollution has increased. She said there would be no waterlogging, but it happened. She said there would be no flooding, but floods came. She promised ₹2,500 in women’s accounts, but that never happened. She said LPG cylinders would become cheaper, but they did not. Every promise of the BJP turned out to be false, deceiving Delhi’s innocent people. The so-called ‘four-engine’ BJP government has no use, because all four engines have failed.”
