New Delhi
Terming the capital’s air pollution a “slow poison” that is making the city “no longer habitable”, the Congress on Saturday urged the Centre to treat the crisis as a “national problem”, convene urgent cross-party consultations and set up an MP-level committee to frame a long-term solution.
Senior Congress leader and former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters, said doctors had warned that Delhi’s toxic air was shortening the average lifespan by six to seven years and placing vulnerable patients at heightened risk.
Mr. Dikshit also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for engaging in what he described as competitive populism, adding that there was “enough time” for such politics closer to elections.
“The government should control pollution, and if they are unable to do this, they have no right to be called a government,” Mr. Dikshit said. “All I have to say is this: stop misleading the public, because due to air pollution, this city is no longer habitable.”
