New Delhi: As the city woke up to thick smog after Monday’s Diwali celebrations and residents struggled to breathe, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Malviya and Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi chief Saurabh Bhardwaj exchanged heated words, trading blame over the city’s worsening air quality.
On Tuesday, Saurabh Bhardwaj attacked the Delhi government for failing to control pollution after the bursting of firecrackers pushed the city’s air quality index (AQI) to danger levels, standing at 359, as of 10 am. Bhardwaj questioned the BJP as to why the “promised artificial rain was not conducted”.
In an ANI interview, accusing the government of lying and “colluding” with private hospitals, the Delhi AAP president said, “The government promised artificial rain to reduce pollution after Diwali. Did it happen? No. If you could do it, why didn’t you? Do you want people to get sick?”
BJP leader Amit Malviya, on the other hand, pointed fingers at the AAP government in Punjab, saying in an X post that stubble burning in Punjab, not Diwali or fireworks, was behind Delhi-NCR’s poor air.
“Unless Arvind Kejriwal–ruled Punjab stops burning stubble, Delhi and NCR will continue to choke. Stop blaming Deepawali for the sins of the Aam Aadmi Party — it’s their smoke, not the festival’s lamps or firecrackers, that darkens Delhi’s skies. Their dark shadow still looms large over the Capital,” Malviya wrote.
Air quality in Delhi had reached the ‘very poor’ category by Tuesday morning, with residents complaining about breathing difficulties and eye irritation.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, Bawana recorded an AQI of 432, Jahangirpuri 405, Ashok Vihar 408, and Wazirpur 408—all in the ‘severe’ category.
Before Diwali, the Supreme Court relaxed the ban on the use of fireworks in the Capital, allowing limited and conditional use of green firecrackers.
In neighbouring states, air quality was also bad. In Haryana, it stood in the ‘very poor’ category in many areas, whereas Punjab recorded ‘poor’ to ‘moderate’ air quality.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has imposed the second stage of the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi-NCR.
According to the Swiss group IQAir, New Delhi’s air quality index Tuesday was one of the highest readings in the world.
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